In the Arms of Morpheus
by darkh0rse
Summary: A great love can often be regarded as arduous, forbidden or blatantly wrong; as is the love between student!Elsa and professor!Anna. This is the story of their lives, their struggles and most of all, their love. Frozen AU - non-incest Elsanna - Elsa/Anna
1. Prologue

**In the Arms of Morpheus | Prologue**

* * *

_Falling for someone IS dreaming. It's an illusion brought on by hormones and chemicals and it's something we are programmed to do. If we are lucky, it's a shared hallucination, but even then it can be a nightmare. Romance is building a dream of a future. Actually attaining that dream is... an act of creation.  
_

* * *

"What you then get are two carbon atoms, which oxidize to carbon dioxide. The energy produced by the process is then transferred to other metabolic processes."

A short pause in which the class hasted to keep up with their notes, scribbling away on paper or typing on their laptops, keyboards clacking. The monotonous, dictatorial ticks of the wall clock droned through the spacious room like a sad and moribund heartbeat. While the sun menacingly blast its rays through the gross, blotchy windows, all students seemed to ignore the beautiful weather and would rather sweat over their lecture. A particular blonde-haired girl, however, sat with a blank, unopened note book in front of her, absentmindedly tapping the back end of her pen on the spiralled spine.

"This is so fucking stupid," the girl murmured to a classmate, who chuckled in response. The comment however, further landed on deaf ears. The whole classroom was too engulfed in the lecture, including the professor, who was calmly drawing all kinds of intricate schematics on the whiteboard.

Frowning, the rebellious girl tried again, voice louder this time, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"I heard you the first time, Elsa. Mind your language."

Rolling her eyes, the blonde crossed her arms in front of her chest, eyebrows dipping down over her dark-lashed eyes. She quietly slumped back in her chair, throwing her pen down in defiance. Honestly, she was quite upset with herself – because really, what was she expecting?

Elsa began to roll her ballpoint back and forth on the cover of her note book, not really paying attention to the teacher, nor the lecture. As the seconds on the clock steadily drummed on, the blonde tried to waste some time by observing birds in a nearby tree and pondering whether or not it was worth jumping out the window.

Even though she really liked biology - which was the sole reason she was in the hot, smelly and crowded classroom in the first place, Elsa couldn't find the willpower to listen to a single word being said. She zoned out time and time again and then either found herself blatantly staring at her teacher until her eyes burned or making rude, snarky, unnecessary comments. It's one thing to be bored and just not pay attention, but this was something that frustrated Elsa.

It frustrated her that she couldn't focus on anything but the redheaded professor in front of the class as soon as she strode into the room each time, and that she couldn't overpower the pubescent urge to ask for attention when she felt that she was lacking it, resulting in her disrupting the lecture on way or another.

"I have a question," Elsa blurted out, trying to put a halt to her own stupid thoughts.

"You should raise your hand if you do. Now, as I was saying, the citric acid cycle is part of the oxidative - yes, Elsa?"

Lips curling into a smug smile, Elsa dropped her hand back to her table, not managing to stop the question from slipping past her lips, resulting in a slightly cracked and unconvincing voice as she uttered her question, "Does citric acid taste sour?"

_Fuck, you idiot._

A collective laugh ran through the body of students while the blonde girl just looked like she was about to punch herself square in the face. _What the fuck.  
_  
"I-I wouldn't know. Now, would you please focus on the actual lesson?"

Not wanting to embarrass herself any more, Elsa practically glued her lips together and slouched back into her chair, staring at a particularly interesting speck of dust on the table whilst thinking that jumping out of the window might actually not that bad of an idea. Deep creases lined her forehead as the blonde was lost in thought, once again completely missing so much as the general jest of the lecture. Valuable information about the citric acid cycle and how it formed energy in the body went in one ear and breezed out the other.

Elsa picked up her ballpoint and started to randomly doodle all kinds of figures on the cover of her note book, just to give her hands and mind something to do. Every now and then, she'd watch the shadows grow longer and longer as time passed by, dipping the class in a dark and distorted divide.

Sooner than expected, the slow hands of the clock approached the end-time for the lecture and the class grew impatient, ready to burst from their seats.

"That was all for today - please don't forget to submit your papers to me by the end of Thursday, alright?" the professor reminded her students, having to yell over the buzz of scraping chairs and instantaneous laughter that always occurred as soon as the clock had struck past the final minute of her lesson, "Alright. Class dismissed," she added, returning to her desk as the first few eager students burst out the door. The redhead returned to her seat, absentmindedly going through some papers.

"Elsa, you stay. I need to talk to you for a minute."

The girl in question groaned loudly, deliberately dropping her books back on the table with an enormous slam. She plopped down in her seat, propping her feet up on the chair in front of her, icy blue gaze boring a hole into the whiteboard opposite of her – if she tried hard enough she might burn her way out.

Elsa tried to ignore the nagging in her stomach as the teacher positioned herself on table in front of her. She presented the blonde with a piece of paper, that, on closer examination, had a big, red _4.3_ scribbled angrily in the upper right corner. _Shit._

"I expected more of you, to be honest. When you applied for this course, you were the only one with a good motivation that also resembled my own passion for biology. Why are you failing it now?" the redhead began, pushing her glasses off and into her hair and rubbing the bridge of her nose. Elsa, who was leaning back in her chair nearly fell off. Managing to stabilize herself in time, she cursed under her breath.

Bringing her chair back on four secure legs, she flushed red. Realizing she had to answer her teacher eventually, she ran a haphazard hand through her blonde locks, trying to avoid eye contact and pressing her lips together in a hard, thin line to prevent any more atrocious things to slip past them.

This wrought a frustrated sigh from the professor, "I don't get what you're trying to accomplish with this. Did I do something to offend you?"

_No, it's me who's being the big, ugly meanie_, Elsa thought; yet she remained silent.

The redheaded woman returned her glasses to her eyes, "Okay. I can see that this is getting nowhere. So this is what we're going to do. I'm going to put you in my extra chemiosmosis and bioenergetics class. Now, I don't want any excuses," she said, effectively silencing a ready-to-protest Elsa, "This is for your own good."

"Right. I fail to see how this will benefit me in any way," Elsa sneered.

"You're a good student. You were, at least, and I know you still are. I don't want you to fail my class and have to re-do the entire year."

She leaned in, hands resting on Elsa's desk, concerned and genuine eyes looking into those of the blonde. Elsa swallowed hard, too proud to give into her reflex to jerk her head back or cast down her gaze. Every nerve in her body screamed to bolt out of the classroom and she felt her face heating up, "Okay?" her professor asked sweetly, reducing Elsa's legs to jelly to the point where she didn't know if she could walk away at all.

"Fine," the blonde girl muttered, scrambling to gather her belongings. The pressure in the room was suffocating her, pushing her out, "Whatever."

Just barely being able to sling her bag over her shoulder, Elsa bashed the door open with her hand, ignoring the stinging pain in her wrist as she briskly stomped through the hallway, pushing her way past anyone who would so much as look at her because any extra spark of anger would make her change her mind.

* * *

_Howdy hey! Here is the prologue-ish thing for my very first Frozen AU fic. I've posted a sort of rough draft of this as the last chapter of my Seven Days of Elsanna, and a lot of you liked it and wanted to see it become a full-fletched fic. So here we go!_

_Let me know what you guys think, okay? I haven't written in forever so it's going to be a bumpy ride. Bear with me through it all. Also, rated M because of swearing and for all future chapters (SMUT HAHAHAHAHAHHEHEHE - ahem. Sorry)._


	2. Miss Andersen

Arendelle University was one of the more prestigious colleges around – established over more than a hundred years ago, the university had built up quite the reputation. Its white, aged stone walls held conversations from histories long ago and knowledge spread amongst students in time.

It wasn't a particularly big university, but what it lacked in size it made up for in specialties. Offering majors and bachelors ranging from geography, archaeology, cultural anthropology, philosophy and biology – plus all their subsets, Arendelle University was more than most students could ever wish for.

All Elsa could however think about as she walked through the still-empty hallway was how much she loathed this school.

Every name plate on the matted glass doors gave her names she did not recognize, but she still hated the teachers with a passion; every step down the tiled corridor tugged her eyebrows deeper down over her eyes, casting shadows over her face while prying eyes scorched the faces of the very few people that would encounter her.

_It is 8:30 AM. This is way too early, _the blonde thought, re-hoisting her bag over her shoulder. The prospect of biology this early in the morning didn't appeal to her much, too; she'd much rather still be in her warm, comfy bed, covered in worriless warmth and engulfed in nothing but good dreams. Though good dreams weren't really on Elsa side last night – strange and anxious scenes of chemiosmosis and big red numbers had swallowed up her nightly consciousness.

Elsa found it strange that the low grade and the talk with her professor had seemingly affected her so much, to the point where her mind would project it into her dreams. She used to not care about classes. Yet here she was, in the morning, heading to her extra tutoring. _What the fuck is wrong with me?_

She shrugged away the thought as she arrived at the classroom; the shiny silver number plate next to it staring down at her mockingly.

Opening the door without thinking twice about knocking, Elsa stumbled in on her professor quietly reading a book in the upcoming sunshine. Her hands were tucked underneath the cover of the novel, soft blue eyes grazing the pages in a slow pace and a languid smile gracing her lips.

As she was watching the scene, Elsa felt a rush of serenity enter her usually chaotic brain. Her hand lingered on the doorknob as she gave herself a moment to relax, her eyes practically glued to the peaceful scene in front of her. It felt rather creepy to just stand there, however, and Elsa quickly regained control.

"U-um," the blonde coughed, feeling immensely intrusive, "good morning?"

The teacher visibly started, hands resolutely clapping the book shut. She turned around to look at who was coming through the door and her posture relaxed when her eyes came to a rest on Elsa's somewhat bashful, somewhat annoyed face, "Oh, good morning. Please, take a seat, I was waiting for you."

Elsa shuffled over to a table, deliberately dragging the chair back with a deafening scrape that pierced the early morning serenity. She dropped her bag on the floor and took some time to bend down and fish out the according books. She had thought about not taking them with her. To just sit here, not even a pen in her possession and to just pretend like it wasn't her fault. She had thought about not coming at all as well, because God knows she didn't give two shits about anything in this course. Still, somehow, the better judgement that was buried deep inside her had urged her to go. _Really though, what is wrong with me?_

She slid her books onto the table, opened her notebook with a deep, hard sigh and looked up at her teacher, "Go wild. Be quick, I might fall back asleep."

"Honestly, I didn't think you'd show up – but I just want to say that I'm glad you did."

Elsa huffed, her arms defensively locking into place in front of her chest as she bit the inside of her cheek, "Yeah yeah, whatever. Just get on with it."

The redheaded young woman picked up her notes and started reciting all kinds of information about atoms, energy and mitochondria. Picking up her pen with relative disgust and reluctance, Elsa scribbled down the date and began to write along with the lecture.

She had written about five or six sentences and half a diagram before the receptive nerves in her brain just felt like disconnecting. Elsa's eyelids were drooping as she tried to fight off the heavy slumber that assaulted her; the sounds of the wind whirring through the trees, the steady murmur of her professor's voice and the squeak of a marker on a whiteboard became blurred and vague and she found herself staring at the back of her teacher's head with intervals of blacked-out sleep.

_God damn, I wasn't even this tired when I woke up this morning._

She managed to keep her eyes open for approximately three seconds or so if she tried really, really hard to not fall asleep, and the blonde cursed under her breath as she found herself nodding off when she could swear she was listening intently a moment ago.

Growing irritated, Elsa tried focusing on random objects in the room to fight off the drowsiness. Her icy blue eyes flitted back and forth, brow furrowed deeply as she did so. _Pen. Desk. Prof's table. Whiteboard. Clock which I swear hasn't moved at all in the last few minutes. Wall poster. Documents. Name plate… wait._

"Miss… Andersen?"

The squeaking stopped for a moment as her professor turned around, a questioning gaze on her face, "Yes?"

"No, I mean, that's your name?" Elsa clarified, sleep-drunken eyes trying to focus on the woman in front of her.

"Elsa, I have been your professor for over two months; how did you only now find out my last name?" she said, the disbelief dripping from voice as she laughed – a laugh that sounded like a wind chime in a spring breeze, "Are you for real?"

Cocking back her chair to lean on the table behind her, the blonde-haired girl frowned and shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear nonchalantly, "Well if you haven't noticed, _miss Andersen_, I haven't been paying that much attention lately. It's a cool name though."

A flash of colour flooded onto the redhead's cheeks as she gave Elsa a soft smile, "Thank you, I guess. Shall we continue?"

"I really can't do this anymore. I need a goddamn coffee," the blonde groaned, head resting on her note book which was becoming surprisingly full. Her eyes prickled and stung as she momentarily closed them, the cold darkness feeling like heaven on Earth, "Can I go get a coffee?"

"I don't know, can you?"

Groaning harder, Elsa lifted her head back up from her notes to glare at miss Andersen, deciding that this was the exact reason why she didn't like classes. Miss Andersen was lucky that her course had been the one she had been sporadically attending, otherwise Elsa would have dropped out for sure. No doubt about it.

Realizing she probably couldn't win this by staring her professor down, Elsa rolled her eyes and asked again: "_May_ I go get a coffee?"

The blonde burst from her seat as soon as the redhead had given her an affirmative, practically storming through the door, haphazardly checking her back pockets for some change. There was something about classrooms that gave her a form of claustrophobia or something – even though the windows had been open, the pressure in the air always built up so uncomfortably, sitting on her chest like an iron weight. _Why again are these tutorings like three hours long?_

Walking more slowly now that her lungs could breathe relatively fresh air, Elsa tucked her hands in her pockets and wandered through the hallway. She couldn't find a lot of places in the building because of her low attendance, but the coffee machines were a spot that practically had her name labelled on.

As she punched in her preferred coffee blend and pushed coins down the slot, she had a moment to reflect on the past hour. The extra lesson hadn't been _as _bad as she had first expected it to be – but it wasn't something Elsa would gladly wake up for. Still, miss Andersen had proven to be a good tutor, and Elsa liked the fact that she had seemed to adopt a different form of instruction when tutoring her only. She was kinder and slower in explanation when the blonde struggled to understand. For as far as Elsa was concerned, her professor was actually a really good teacher; Elsa was just never there to notice it. Or rather, she was never _mentally _there.

Not that she'd been following the entirety of the lecture this time, but it was significantly more than ever.

Steaming hot coffee poured out of the machine and Elsa's thoughts skidded to a slow halt. Her fingers enclosed around the warm plastic cup and only then did she realize that writing so much had chilled her hands down a lot. She put the cup to her lips, puffs of steam tickling her nose as she took a sip.

After downing half of the cup's contents, the blonde became painfully aware of the fact that she should get back to the classroom. With lead in her shoes, she sauntered her way back, taking her coffee with her for moral support. The number plate on the wall seemed even more menacing this time around.

Elsa plopped down on her seat, grunting something inaudible to signal her returning presence to the professor.

The latter put down her book – the same she'd been reading this morning (Elsa had tried to take a peek at the title or the writer, but it had either been too far away or simply completely out of view), and got up, pushing her glasses up her nose a bit more, "We have about one and a half hour left to cover, are you ready to go on?" she asked, whiteboard marker at the ready in her small hands.

Elsa laughed humourlessly, "Well, no, but I guess I have no choice."

The redhead blinked confusedly for a few seconds, and Elsa noted in her expression that her professor wasn't sure whether to be insulted at the comment or to laugh about it. Elsa smirked, putting her feet on the chair in front of her, "Or can I leave if I ask nicely?"

Without missing a beat, miss Andersen smirked right back at her student and uncapped the marker she was holding, "I don't know, can you?"

_Jesus Christ, does she think she's funny or something?_ Elsa sighed loudly, smashing her hand down on her pen as she provocatively picked it up. She breathed out hard through her nose, feeling the anger at being defeated at her own game course through her veins, "Fine. You win this round, Andersen."


	3. Guilt

Elsa was more than glad that her tutoring the next day wasn't set so early in the morning, giving her plenty of time to sleep in. This, however, had proven to have quite the adverse effect. As she walked through the university supressing a yawn, she felt even sleepier than yesterday. And that double espresso shot didn't work, either.

Swirling around the contents of her regular coffee in her cup, she absentmindedly noted that maybe it was time to invest in a travel mug.

_I'm not that hipster, for God's sake._

The blonde strolled around, seeing the sun play shadows on the floor and the walls as the summer breeze shook the branches of trees, trying her best to stretch time and move as slowly as possible towards the room that was already becoming way too familiar.

Upon finally entering said classroom, miss Andersen's voice immediately boomed through her head and Elsa felt a headache coming up.

"Good morning, Elsa. Go sit down and get your stuff ready, I'll be with you in a few minutes."

Mumbling something similar back to the redhead, Elsa plonked down on the nearest seat. It was only when she had piled her books on the desk that she looked up and noticed that her professor had gone. She pressed her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes, regretting ever staying in bed for so long.

Elsa slouched back in her chair after unzipping her sweater and draping it over the back of the chair for a slightly more comfortable seat. Lazily tapping her pen on the edge of the table, her eyes slowly scanned the room – she never really did pay attention to the decorations or design of the classroom. It was a fairly small room, but that didn't matter regarding the relatively few students that took this course; Elsa guessed there were about twenty people in total.

Then again, she could be wrong. When was the last time she paid attention, anyway?

Looking around at the walls, the blonde noticed that miss Andersen had put in a lot of effort into putting up posters and the like. There was of course a massive must-have poster of the periodic table and a couple of different charts depicting cells; but beside the normal, educational stuff Elsa could feel a personal vibe, too.

There were several posters with supposedly funny phrases about biology, something framed which Elsa reckoned to be the teacher's bachelor's or master's degree. On the teacher's desk stood a few books and a small statuette of a deer or an elk, or something like that.

It was cute, sort of adorable and almost childlike and it reminded Elsa of middle school – yet it suited miss Andersen. She was still young and enthusiastic, and she seemed to be the kind of person to project a lot of herself onto her environment.

"Are you all set up and ready?" the professor's voice shook Elsa awake from her musings as she returned to the classroom.

"You bet," Elsa grinned, downing the last gulp of coffee from her to-go cup.

"So, did you have any difficulties with the exercises?"

_Wait, what?_ "… I'm sorry?"

"The exercises, Elsa," miss Andersen repeated, taking off her glasses and pushing them into her hair. She positioned herself in front of her student's table and looked at her mischievously, one hand on her hip and the other on the wood of the desk, "The ones I sent to you by e-mail. The ones you should've done for today."

The blonde leaned back in her chair, tipping it over on two legs, "Right. _Those_ exercises. I didn't do them."

Miss Andersen's eyebrows dipped down over her eyes and she cocked her head to the side, "Elsa. Didn't we already talk about this? You're here beca-"

"Yeah, I'm here because I didn't do shit and because I'm getting low grades. I get it," Elsa chimed in, interrupting her professor in mid-sentence, "That doesn't change the fact that I still don't do shit, so yes, I didn't do my exercises. You should've anticipated this, really."

Elsa watched the peaceful expression in her teachers eyes change to irritation with glee. As she was leaning back in her chair, she had to repress the smug grin that was itching to crawl onto her lips – but down in the pit of her stomach, she also felt something unidentifiable. Something heavy, tugging down. Mentally cursing herself for being such a dickhead, Elsa put her chair back on four legs, wanting to apologize but not finding the willpower to actually say it.

Fury raced through her being, slowly boiling her blood as she stared down miss Andersen, her dark eyebrows knitting together above her eyes.

_You're a fucking asshole, do you know that?_

The blonde kept looking into her teacher's eyes, almost piercing through them. Her heart beat frantically in her chest, and she couldn't quite discern why exactly. But when miss Andersen's expression changed from frustration into hurt as she turned away to the whiteboard, Elsa felt her pulse sink like an anchor.

_Giant asshole._

"Let's just carry on, Elsa. Try to pay attention."

"Ouch," Elsa sneered, competing with the harshness in her professor's voice, "yes _ma'am_."

The redhead decided to ignore her student's comment as she briskly started writing down information, her marker landing on the surface harder than necessary. Elsa didn't feel particularly proud of herself and had to resist the urge to mimic the slams on the whiteboard with her own pen and paper.

She mumbled something under her breath, exhaling deeply in an attempt to flush out all the resentment that had built up so quickly for no particular reason. Because what had her professor done wrong, realistically speaking? Calling Elsa out on her faults and mistakes was part of her job.

Elsa bit down hard on her bottom lip, managing to calm herself down enough to half-heartedly follow the lecture. _Giant, gaint asshole._

As miss Andersen rattled on about cellular respiration and electrochemical gradients – terms which Elsa had never heard of in her life, and therefore hasted to keep up, the red-haired professor seemed to relax. Her voice was soon void of the edge of anger and annoyance and she continued the lesson calmly and kindly. Elsa, however, had chewed off as what felt like most of the inside of her cheek in the meanwhile.

The heavy, tugging feeling from before had re-entered and had positioned itself in the pit of her stomach, occasionally floating up to rest forcibly upon her chest; the blonde had also finally identified it. _Guilt_. And it wasn't that Elsa had never felt guilty before in her entire life. She had often felt guilty for a lot of things in the past, probably so many times that she couldn't even name them all. It was just that she'd stopped caring for bugger-all ever since her junior year in high school.

Elsa squinted at the redhead in front of the classroom. How was miss Andersen suddenly making her _feel_ things?


	4. Tea Person

"You understand now that ATP is biochemical energy converted from nutrients?"

Elsa scribbled something down, grunting out an answer, "Yeah, I guess. What are nutrients again? I haven't written it down."

"Carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, vitamins, and so on. More simply said, nutrients are an array of components that humans, as an organism, need to survive, mostly because they are not synthesized within the body itself but rather have to be obtained from external sources. Like food."

"Right."

"Do you also get that in order to generate ATP, oxygen is required even though nutrients like carbohydrates can be processed as reactants?"

More scribbling and more sighs and groans of frustration. Elsa's pen couldn't move across the page fast enough. At first she thought she'd remember things without having to write them down, but she soon found out that that was a big mistake – now having to make up for it by penning down everything she though she already had remembered but actually failed to do so. Elsa pinched the bridge of her nose, her head doing an absolute shit job at keeping up with all the information that accumulated in there so quickly. It probably was really easy once the blonde would take a good look at it, but right now her mind was about to ready to explode.

Yet her professor was far from being done, "It requires oxygen because the glucose in certain nutrients have a tendency to start the process of glycolysis inside the mitochondrion. And, as we know, the mitochondrion is aerobic, which is why it needs oxygen."

"Can we just- take a quick break?" Elsa asked, interrupting the lecture, "I need some fresh air. And maybe a painkiller or two… or six."

"It's only been an hour. Your break isn't until half past ten."

The blonde put down her pen and mustered up the best whiney voice she had in her, "Aw, please?"

"The answer is no. You're not going to get better at any of this," said the teacher, pausing while she gestured at the whiteboard which was full of text, notes and all kinds of schematics and charts, "if you keep asking for breaks every fifteen minutes." She used one hand to lean on her table and the other to push her glasses into her hairline, causing wisps of strawberry blonde hair to stand up like antennae. "I get that it's difficult, but at least make an effort."

"I know, I'm stupid," Elsa retorted, flinging her hands in the air in a burst of frustration, "But it's not working like this either. I'm not taking in anything you're trying to explain right now so I might as well take a few minutes to regain focus."

"I never said you're stupid, Elsa," miss Andersen said gently, her forehead creasing in concern as she put her glasses on her nose. She sat down at her desk and looked at the blonde in front of her for a moment before grabbing up some papers and reading through the messy stack with flitting blue eyes, "Be back in ten, alright?"

Dumbfounded, Elsa opened her mouth to retort, not quite expecting this little resistance. So she shut it quickly, teeth clacking together with the snap of her jaw.

_At least say thank you. What are you, heartless?_

As the blonde-haired girl slowly made her way towards the door, she just barely muttered a small "thanks" as she exited the room.

_Oh yeah, that was great, I'm sure she heard the genuine appreciation in your voice._

Elsa slammed her fist into the side of the coffee machine once she got there, starting a group of students nearby. They shot glances at her like she was crazy and for a moment, Elsa didn't even blame them. What the hell was she thinking? It wasn't miss Andersen's fault that she failed this class. Why get angry at her?

It had been her own dumb doing, really. The need to constantly annoy and upset her teacher had re-surfaced - or rather, it had never left in the first place.

There had been moments in life where Elsa thought she might have some kind of attention disorder, or something else to cause this need to do these things. She had often hoped it would pass with puberty and all of that hormonal nonsense, but no, it seemed to have grown stronger more than anything. Elsa had gotten quite used to it, but miss Andersen was the pinnacle of her troubles with attention. Never before had the blonde experienced such strong urges, and never has she felt more stupid.

Yet Elsa still didn't know why. She couldn't figure out why miss Andersen had such a big impact on her, and why she frustrated her so much and vice versa.

The beep of the coffee machine ripped Elsa from her thoughts. Looking at the black block of electronics, she wondered if she should bring something for her professor. She'd never considered to do something like that, but she saw it as some sort of peace offering.

Elsa bit her lower lip. She didn't even know if miss Andersen liked coffee. Maybe she liked hot chocolate. _No,_ s_he seems more of a tea person._

A slightly trembling, reluctant finger pressed the touch screen of the machine, buzzing it to life as it began to pour out steaming hot tea. Elsa wriggled another cup out of the holder and shoved the first cup in it, the boiling beverage nearly searing her fingers off through the plastic. The ten minutes given to the blonde weren't over yet at all, but Elsa felt rather awkward just standing there with two drinks on her own – also, it would be rude to give miss Andersen cold tea.

Trudging back to the classroom, Elsa tried to chew off what had been remaining of the inside of her cheek. Coming back as coolly and reserved as possible as if nothing had happened wasn't one of her strongest points. And now she was bringing drinks, as well.

_What am I becoming, a butler? Jeesh._

Elsa put the cup on miss Andersen's table with more force than she intended, resulting in some of the liquid sloshing over the side. It did, however, signal her return._  
_  
The redhead turned around to see the steaming cup of tea standing clumsily on her desk. She frowned, looking at it like it had arrived per spaceship. Picking it up and looking back at her student, "Is that... for me?"

"Yeah, whatever," Elsa said, plopping down on her seat and casting her eyes down, "Consider it a random act of kindness."

The blonde wasn't looking at miss Andersen but she could practically feel her beaming, "Thank you."

Blowing a lost lock of hair back in place, Elsa ignored the traces of a blush that started to make its tingly way up her cheeks.

"Don't forget to study for your test on Monday, alright? I'll forward you some summaries and useful websites."

Elsa's eyebrows knitted together over her eyes as she glanced at her professor – all honesty and kindness on her face and again Elsa felt a pang of guilt in her stomach for treating her so badly. She bit her lip as she zipped up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, "Yeah. Thanks, miss Andersen. I- I mean… really. I appreciate it."

"I know, Elsa," the redhead said, her lips curling up into the sweetest, shyest smile Elsa had ever seen in her life. The pang of guilt quickly turned into a big lump that settled in her throat and Elsa asked herself how she could have ever been so harsh towards this pure bundle of good-natured spirit. She swallowed a couple of times, fingers nervously fumbling with the hem of her shirt as she stood there looking into miss Andersen's eyes.

Realizing her awkward, statuesque behaviour, Elsa murmured something incomprehensible and quickly made her exit, stumbling over her own feet as she was trying to figure out why she felt so goddamn giddy.

* * *

_Sorry for my tardy update – I had quite a bit of a stressful period at university. Like I said, I haven't written a multi-chapter fic in ages so I'm rusty. Also, I'm sorry for the monotonous scenery in the fic so far. It's gonna change next update, don't worry. LOVIN' all of your support and feedback, though. Makes me feel good._

_I already regret naming the chapters because I suck at it. Oh well._


	5. Beers and Ashtrays

Speakers blaring some Ke$ha song through the establishment, the clinking of glasses and the loud bawling of young men who are just a bit too tipsy. Greasy windows that overlooked a street packed with people, laughter, and the smell of cigarettes, perfume, hard liquor and cheap beers in the air.

_Just how I like my Sunday nights._

Elsa sat at the bar, a nearly empty glass of beer in front of her, and about three more of them already re-conquered by the bartenders. She was chatting with some random guy next to her, a man maybe twice her age with a stubbly beard and a biker jacket. He was roaring with laughter as Elsa recited some of her best jokes.

She'd spent quite a bit of time with this semi-stranger after sitting down next to him. He had greeted her and at first Elsa didn't pay much attention to him - she just wanted a drink, really. But then again, where was the fun in that? If she just wanted a drink she could simply go to the liquor store and drink it at home.

"I like you, kid. D'you want another beer?"

"Sure," the blonde said with a smile, downing the remainder of her previous drink.

If Elsa were the person to have a favourite pub, this place would be it. It was just five minutes away from her apartment, and she frequented a lot. Busy clubs with drunk, hormonal teenagers grinding against her behind didn't quite have the appeal that this homely, more reserved café had.

"You're not really flirting with that guy, are you? He doesn't really look like your type."

Elsa frowned, turning to the source of the voice. Beside her stood a tall, black-haired girl; one hand on a cocked hip and the other on the bar clutching a drink. She emitted an air of nonchalance and confidence as she lifted one sharply curved eyebrow, brown eyes quickly flitting up and down Elsa's figure.

The blonde casually put down her beer and shifted in her chair, "And you know what my type is because?"

"I'm everyone's type," said the woman without missing a beat, a crooked grin crawling up her lips. She gave Elsa a wink, "So, do you come here often?"

_Gross. _"Yeah, I guess. At least every weekend."

"How come I never saw you before, then?"

Elsa shrugged, staring blankly at the girl in front of her, "I don't really like to be recognized a lot."

A few seconds of silence passed, which felt like minutes. Very awkward minutes. The blonde started to feel self-conscious as the stranger kept looking at her so slyly and began to pick at a coaster lying on the bar. This only seemed to amuse the black-haired woman even more, and Elsa quickly threw the coaster down again.

"What, cat's got your tongue? Are you ever gonna tell me what your name is, cutie?"

_Super gross. _"Elsa."

"I'm Jasmine. Can I get you a drink?"

"Looks like I'm all set," Elsa replied, smirking as the bartender just put down another beer in front of her.

She took a big gulp out of the glass, thinking that she needed to be inebriated way more to deal with this girl. Elsa watched her climb on the bar stool next to her from the corner of her eye and sighed inwardly. Sure, Jasmine seemed like a nice enough girl, but Elsa wasn't in the mood to hit on anyone. To be fair, she was actually really pretty; her curly hair was flowing down her back like a black sea, a shiny silver piercing peeking out beneath the waves. Her brown eyes were deep and intense, her cheeks dimpled as she smiled at the bartender and her eyeliner was so sharp it could kill a man.

Jasmine received her drink and raised her glass slightly to clink it against Elsa's, "Cheers, then."

After that attempt at a weird celebratory toast, the interrogation began. Jasmine started casually firing off questions at Elsa, and the latter had to try hard not to roll her eyes every now and then. She caught herself almost mechanically replying to what were genuine interests from Jasmine, and a pang of guilt hit her. Elsa noted that she should also probably talk a bit more, and ask the black-haired girl some questions herself.

Two beers and a shot of tequila later and Jasmine was unstoppable.

She had her hand on Elsa's thigh and Elsa pretended not to see the flirty look in the girl's eyes – which was a hard task. The warmth on her thigh distracted Elsa way too much to say anything about it, and really, she was too intoxicated to care.

"I've gotta go take a smoke, wanna join me?" Jasmine asked, pointing her thumb into the direction of the smoker's room.

"Why not."

Elsa followed the black-haired girl on wobbly legs, refusing the cigarette that was offered to her. She watched Jasmine light hers, the red at the end of the cigarette lighting up whenever she took a puff.

"You don't smoke?" the young woman asked in between blowing out clouds of smoke.

"No. I think it's gross," Elsa said, positioning herself in front of Jasmine, "Especially when you kiss someone. Who wants to stick their tongue in an ashtray?"

"I know some people," Jasmine grinned, taking a last breath of her daily nicotine before throwing it on the ground and squashing it with her shoe. Brown eyes flickered up hungrily at Elsa's, and the black-haired girl slowly closed in on the blonde. Elsa's breath hitched in her throat as Jasmine leant in, taking a step back out of reflex. That, however, didn't stop Jasmine; she grabbed Elsa by the hips and pulled her back swiftly. The roughness of their bodies slamming into one another sent Elsa's inebriated mind reeling. One hand travelled up to her face and locked itself around her neck – Elsa felt her hot breath tickling her lips, and licked them involuntarily.

This was the green light for Jasmine – Elsa gasped as the black-haired woman swiftly closed the distance between them and, quite forcefully, mushed their mouths together. Her lips were warm and wet and they tasted of alcohol and cigarettes.

Elsa's heart started to beat wildly in her chest and for a second she kissed back hard, earning a set of nails digging in her clothes. But then she felt her stomach knot together unpleasantly and a sense of panic began to drown out all she felt and made her break the kiss.

"I'm… I'm sorry. You're really nice and _really_ hot, but I- I should go," stammered Elsa, pushing herself off of Jasmine.

The latter looked slightly hurt, but regained her composure, starting to twirl a lock of the blonde's hair around her finger, "Why? We're having such a good time."

"Yes, I know – I just n-need to leave," Elsa replied, trying to repress the light-headedness that dropped over her like a cloud. She scrambled to get her coat, waved her temporary friend at the bar farewell and stormed through the door, leaving a stunned Jasmine behind.

Fresh summer air swept Elsa's hair up as she stormed into the street, taking a direct right turn, eyes set on her apartment in the distance.

_What the fuck._

The kiss was already becoming a mere blurred memory in her mind due to the alcohol consumption. Elsa's mind turned foggy, but she could still feel her airways tighten as she recalled Jasmine's lips on hers – had she been such a bad kisser?  
_  
_Elsa had finished the five minute walk home in two minutes and stared at her door for a moment before realizing it was her apartment.  
_  
_It took two or three tries to successfully jam the key into the lock and turn it the right way around. Elsa stumbled up to her bed, turning on a single light to make sure she didn't bump into her belongings. Ditching her clothes, she found herself in the bathroom, surprisingly having remembered to brush her teeth. She took her watch and bracelets off with fumbling, clumsy hands and haphazardly threw them on the sink before going back to her living room.

She turned off the light and momentarily looked out the window to see the faint orange glow of morning already brimming at the horizon.

As Elsa fell back-first into her bed and pulled the blankets up to her chest, everything began to spin. The ceiling and the fan contorted into weird, twisting shapes until it eventually turned into a maelstrom before her eyes and the blonde quickly shut them. Still feeling her heart pound excitedly in her chest, Elsa couldn't quite understand why it had felt so wrong to kiss Jasmine. There was nothing wrong with kissing girls, and it wasn't like she hadn't done it before. But now it had seemed like some invisible power of moral judgement had stopped her.

The blonde began to drift into slumber as she was musing over her thoughts, not being able to connect the faint, short dreams featuring miss Andersen and her sweet little smile with the inability to kiss someone else.

* * *

_No, Jasmine is not based off the Disney princess. Also, over a hundred follows? You guys are insane._


	6. Anna

Elsa woke up with a start, pulse shooting through the roof and thundering loudly in her ears. Something had just made the loudest noise in the _world_ and it had rudely awakened her from her rather peaceful dream. _Christ, what fucking time is it?_

She looked around to identify the sound, wriggling the covers off of her which had seemingly tried to strangle her in her sleep. Sluggish hands groped the night stand until they closed around the cool metal of her phone. The bright light it emitted nearly seared her eyes out as slid her finger over the touch screen and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" she managed to croak, voice hoarse and raw and sleepy. She finally sat up properly, rubbing her eyes.

"Elsa, it's miss Andersen. I'm just calling you about your test and yo–" the professor on the other side of the call didn't even get to finish her sentence.

The blonde's eyes flew wide open, dispelling all sleep that was still tugging her eyelids down, "Miss Andersen? Holy fuck, how'd you get my phone number?" she shouted into the phone as she bolted out of bed, grabbing the nearest pair of jeans and starting to put them on, nearly falling over as her foot got caught in her trouser leg. She tried to close the zipper but couldn't get a hold of it, looking down to see that she had them inside out.

"God damnit!"

Peeling the skin-tight denim off of her legs, the blonde opted for a skirt instead. It was summer anyway – it was about time she dressed like it.

"Elsa, it's in your file, calm down."

The blonde stumbled all over the place, stubbing her toe against the wheel of her desk chair and she hissed in pain. Jamming the phone in between her shoulder and ear, Elsa sat down on the bed and, now with both hands at the ready, shoved her feet into some socks, "Wait. What time is it?"

A short silence followed, and Elsa could only hear her own pulse drumming away in her ears. She was about to say a short prayer when miss Andersen answered.

"It's three o' clock," the professor's voice buzzed through her cell phone and Elsa's heart leapt in her chest. Her exam was scheduled for nine AM.

"Jesus Christ, I'm sorry – I overslept big time, miss Andersen, I- I didn't mean to."

Racing to the bathroom, Elsa threw a hand through her hair in order to make the dishevelled mess a little more organized – but to no avail. Her heart was still pumping in her chest, both from adrenaline and the intense feeling of dread that was creeping on her in regards to the test. She didn't catch much of what miss Andersen was saying through the phone, only picking up a few words here and there because she was too busy internally reprimanding herself.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it, just calm down for a bit," miss Andersen said in a vain attempt to console the blonde. It didn't have much effect. She ignored her teacher, haphazardly throwing on a shirt that'd been laying on the floor and then hurrying to the front door.

At this moment, Elsa was very glad she didn't have a flight of stairs to run down from – at this speed, she would probably fall. And break something.

She bolted through her tiny hallway, skidding to a halt to jump into her shoes. She bent down to tie her shoelaces only to be met with two different brightly-coloured striped socks staring back at her; one yellow and white, and one purple and black. Elsa groaned loudly, the urge to slam her head into the front door becoming a very real one. Maybe it would even soothe the upcoming headache.

"Elsa, I want you to meet me at the coffee shop across the faculty. No rush, okay? You're already late so take all the time you need."

"Thanks," the blonde sneered dryly, "It's not like I have been hurrying or anything. No big deal, prof."

The blonde only received a chuckle in response before her teacher hung up on her. Elsa sighed, dropping her phone into her bag. She glanced at herself in the mirror; a girl with messy, greasy hair and bright blue eyes gazing at her from above slight purple bags. A girl that still had the lingering scent of alcohol oozing from her pores.

_What a fucking mess, I need a shower. Miss Andersen will wait._

* * *

As Elsa was stomping down the sideway, the slight thumping in her head had developed into a full-blown hangover headache. It throbbed inside her skull with every step she took, but the faster she walked, the sooner she could sit down, have a coffee and pop some painkillers.

She'd planned to take a really long, satisfying shower to wash away the persistent effects of the intoxication of last night, but ended up showering in five minutes. Maybe even less – Elsa would have been proud of herself for saving water if it wasn't for the fact that she'd been plagued with guilt and anxiety.

_Miss Andersen is so kind to tutor you privately – to look at your face and put up with your shit, and you sleep through your test. Fucking hell._

Elsa kept cursing herself in some kind of inner monologue until she had – quite quickly – reached the coffee shop.

Before going in, Elsa threw a quick look at herself in the window of the door, fixing her hair and shirt. She grimaced. _At least I look semi-presentable._

She pushed open the door, triggering the small ring of a bell. The smell of coffee and baked goods wafted in her face, accompanied by the soft murmur of conversation and the clinking of cutlery and glasses. Old wooden floorboards gave way lightly beneath her feet as she walked over to a booth near the window, where Elsa could see the strawberry-coloured hair of her professor peeping out of.

The blonde swung her bag onto the far end of the booth table – yet miss Andersen didn't start. She looked up rather calmly and cocked her head.

"Hi, Elsa," miss Andersen said, smiling with a twinkle in her eyes as she set down her cup, "How'd you sleep?"

The girl in question grunted, plopping down onto the booth couch and resolutely slamming her head into the table. "Like a baby," she murmured into the wood beneath her lips, her voice hoarse and barely audible. She could hear her professor ordering a coffee for her and the level of guilt was about to shoot through the roof.

Elsa lifted her head just in time to see the waiter leave, the brewing machine already rumbling as it ground beans.

"Miss Andersen," she began, her eyebrows furrowing above her icy blue eyes as she repressed a surge of nausea – she couldn't figure out if it was because she was so nervous to face her professor of because she had a massive hangover, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to miss the test, I really didn't."

A small hand waved away the apologies, and miss Andersen smiled, "Elsa, I already told you that it's okay. To be honest, I expected as much."

"Thanks," growled the blonde, "Way to add insult to injury."

"Oh come on, Elsa. I don't mean it like that. There's plenty more of girls and boys just like you and I've learned to anticipate them. Just because it's my second year teaching doesn't mean that I've never dealt with students like you."

Elsa opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it again. She bit her lip and sat back in her seat, nodding knowingly at her professor. _So you're a douche _and_ a selfish bastard, huh? Not everything is about you, you idiot._

"Look, we're just going to have to reschedule your test," the redhead said matter-of-factly, looking at Elsa from above the rim of her glasses as she bent her head to jot it down in her agenda, "You just have to not tell anyone, alright?"

"My my, miss Andy, breaking the rules now, are we?" Elsa replied playfully, ignoring the wave of panic that rushed through her. _What the hell did you just call her?_

Elsa's panic only increased when for a moment she saw her professor's face falter. Miss Andersen quickly regained her composure, but not before being adorned with a blush that spread down her cheeks. She chuckled, "Miss Andy?"

"Yeah, l-like a nickname. Can I call you that?"

The redhead put down her pen and slid her hand across the table, right into Elsa's open one, "You can call me Anna."

If Elsa had been sitting on a chair rather than a couch, she would probably have fallen off. For the second time today her heart leapt up, lodging itself in her throat. She could feel the warmth of Anna's hand spread through her arm and all she could think of was how soft and delicate her skin felt.

"Now," Anna said, retracting her hand, "it's not called breaking the rules if done by authority. Should I order another cup of coffee for you?"

Elsa titled her head and squinted at miss Andersen. How on earth was this distant university teacher transforming into this sweet, kind package of human – to someone she could see as more than a just university teacher. The blonde laughed, placing her chin up on her now folded hands, "Wow, you're quite the rebel."

"Look, you just have to not mention it to anyone. Now, do you want your coffee or not?"

"My lips are sealed, Anna."

* * *

_So, some of you have been asking what the title is about: don't worry, you'll find out. It has to do with the quote above the prologue, and it'll be explained in due time. There were also questions whether Elsa is in university or not. Yes. She is, and I explicitly stated that she is attending Arendelle University. This means that Elsa is around 19/20 years old, and Anna is 23 or 24-ish (I haven't decided yet for the both of them, oops). This brings up the issue of the alcohol consumption of last chapter – why is Elsa drinking when she is not yet 21 years of age? Simple answer: not America._

_Hope that clears things up. Also, sorry for the slow update, I had a 2500 word essay to submit and I'm right in the middle of exams atm._


	7. Call Me?

"The products generated by the citric acid cycle are in turn used by oxidative phosphorylation to what?"

"To… make energy?"

Anna chuckled, leaning against her desk, "In theory, yes. And what do we call that energy again?"

"I know this! I know this, don't say anything," Elsa said, chewing on the back of her pen really hard. She looked at the ceiling as if to find an answer in the patterns scattered across it, "Shit, what's it called again… oh! ATP?"

"Which is an abbreviation of which chemical element?"

"Adenosine triphosphate."

"Perfect," Anna replied, a smile stretching across her lips, "I knew you had it in you."

Elsa scoffed, "I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. This stuff is like, what, high school level?"

Her professor shrugged and laughed lightly, proceeding to sit down behind the desk. She put her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands. For a few moments, she just looked at the student in front of her with an air of 'you can do better than this' before speaking up, "Elsa. You're in college. What on earth makes you think that what you're being taught is high school level? You have got to give yourself a little more credit."

"Hm," the blonde huffed, folding her arms and leaning back in her chair, ignoring her flushing face and rising annoyance, "Sure."

"Really, Elsa. You've got to stop talking yourself down—" before Anna could finish, some alarm on her phone went off. The redhead turned to the device and silenced the ringing, sliding it into the pocket of her jeans with one hand while the other started to grab up loose papers and jamming it into her shoulder bag.

"Alright, Elsa, I have to go," she said, haphazardly collecting folders, files and a few books into her arms, "Um, call me?"

Elsa frowned as she got up, a confused, nervous laugh passing from her lips, "I can't just leisurely call my _professor_."

"Says who? You already have my number anyway," Anna said, shrugging while her teal eyes quickly flitted up and down Elsa's frame before setting back on the girl's gaze. Her lips curled into a mischievous smile as she cocked her hip, hands hugging her pile of documents, "Why not use it?"

The redhead winked before she briskly walked away, leaving a baffled and flustered Elsa behind who was desperately trying to regain control over her legs.

Swallowing the lump that had settled in her throat, she tried to ignore the stinging hot blush that was creeping onto her cheeks, finally managing to move her legs to steer herself towards the restrooms. She didn't even register walking through the door until she felt herself splash her face with water.

Elsa grunted as she looked at herself in the mirror – her face had turned completely red. _Christ, pull it together. What are you, some hormonal teenager?_

Blue eyes with traces of too little sleep on the skin below stared back at her as the blonde tried to bore a hole in the surface of the mirror.

Counting her all-too loud, drumming heartbeat, Elsa pressed a hand to the bridge of her nose and exhaled loudly. _God damn._

* * *

Curled on the sheets of her bed, Elsa lay with her phone in her hand, the screen eternally burning as the blonde stared at the device. Every now and then she'd flick through her contacts, throat tightening when miss Andersen's name appeared – her thumb ghosting over the call button but then closing the menu.

Miss Andersen couldn't have been serious. Which student in their right mind would call their professor just because they are given the opportunity? But if the answer seemed such an obvious no, Elsa wondered why she was still considering the offer in the first place.

"Who am I kidding," the girl murmured, hopping off the bed and strolling to the kitchen to fashion herself a cup of coffee.

Sounds of kitchen appliances humming and buzzing drifted through the small apartment.

The smell of coffee soon followed the sound of it being made and the blonde shuffled back into the room not much later.

When she threw a nervous glance at her cell phone, the light on it was _actually _flashing and it sent her heart into a leap. _Of _course _she texts when I leave my phone for like two minutes. _Elsa nearly threw the cup of coffee on her nightstand and plonked herself down on her bed. With a shaky hand she grabbed her phone and opened the text message, nearly forgetting to check the sender – _Anna_. _Shit, it really is her._

The text was short: **Did the brave rebel run out of bravery to call me?**

Elsa fell back into the bed, a huge grin exploding from her lips. She tried to fight it and compose her face but she couldn't stop it. The blonde stared at the sentence a couple of minutes, because figuring out what to send back was a lot harder than she'd expected.

The blinking cursor taunted her for longer than Elsa liked to admit, but then she resolutely texted back.

_**No**__._

Her thumb ghosted over the 'send' button for a second or two. She didn't want to come across as too eager, but wasn't this a bit too reluctant? Too get-the-fuck-away-from-me? Blonde eyebrows knitted together over Elsa's eyes as she bit the inside of her lip before she then pressed the damn button anyway.

**Ah, I was almost beginning to think you'd lost your tongue **– the reply was so quick that it made Elsa forget all about her own hesitation.

_**You wish.**_

**Don't flatter yourself. Also, you should be studying you know. With your test and all ;)**

Elsa grinned, rolling over onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. _**I can multi-task just fine, professor.**_

**I'd have to see that to believe it.**

_**Ouch, Anna.**_

**Hey, until you prove to me you can drink coffee **_**and **_**follow class at the same time, I won't believe a word you say.**

_**Such a challenge – I'm not sure I can do it.**_

**Me neither.**

_**You might have to teach me.**_

**Always glad I can be of help. Anything else you need assistance with?**

Elsa lost track of everything as her phone kept buzzing and buzzing. She'd tried all possible sitting and lying positions on and in her bed, her cell phone not leaving her hands for more than two minutes. Eventually she was slowly draining its entire battery. But even when that happened, the blonde just plugged the charger in and continued. They talked about nonsense, really, but the grin on Elsa's face never left.

Three empty coffee cups graced her nightstand, the only sign that time had passed after all.

It was only when Elsa rolled onto her back and stared out the window that she realized it had gotten pitch-black outside.

She got up, closed the window half way and drew the curtains closed. She glanced at her alarm clock and muttered a curse under her breath when the red digits showed her an ungodly hour way past midnight. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably at the knowledge that she'd been texting her _professor_ all night long.

Yet the blonde still didn't miss a beat. _**Making a student stay up way too late; you're such an irresponsible teacher, Anna.**_

**Oh please. Making your teacher stay up, now **_**that's **_**irresponsible.**

The blonde smirked, amazed at how her cheeks still didn't hurt from all the grinning. She rolled back onto her stomach and figured that it might be best to just go to bed.

_**Alright, alright. You got me. I'll go to bed, I'll see you tomorrow.**_

**I'll see you tomorrow. Sleep well, Elsa.**

* * *

_Hey there. Sorry for the slow update – my girlfriend broke up with me and that pretty much killed all my enthusiasm for everything, including most of my hobbies. I'm doing a bit better now and I'll try to update more regularly now since it's summer vacation and I absolutely have nothing to do._

_Your reviews make me happy and I'm sorry I've been shit at keeping this story alive. Bear with me. Also, for those wondering, yes I have changed my username. The old one was too personal. So hi, darkh0rse at your service._

_(also editor won't fucking let me do the line thing after the chapter GOD DAMN IT)_


	8. 8,3

Elsa's stomach couldn't stop churning and she wasn't sure if it was because she was about to get her test results or because Anna was constantly staring at her.

The exam was right in front of her. Miss Andersen had put it on her table moments ago, but Elsa still hadn't so much as looked at it.

After nearly three weeks of intense schooling, Elsa still wasn't sure about the exam at all. Especially not because she'd blankly gazed at the first question for about five minutes before actually starting to think about what it said. Not to mention the pressure of feeling Anna's inspective eyes boring a hole in her skull for the entire hour.

The blonde had never hoped more furiously to pass a test. Which said a lot, considering the fact that she had never in her life really bothered about standardized intelligence tests. But it was different. She _had _to get a good grade. Not just to, you know, pass the exam; this time, she didn't want to let Anna down. The redhead had given so much of her free time teaching some doofus how to do chemical biology that Elsa couldn't disappoint her by completely destroying her professor's efforts.

She had given Elsa so much more than just knowledge, facts and theories about chemical processes in the body. Although the blonde didn't like to admit it, Anna had sparked a curiosity inside her – the urge to learn everything as long as miss Andersen explained it to her.

"Elsa, you can turn it over now, you know," Anna broke the silence with her re-assuring, a hint of laughter in her soft voice.

The blonde snapped back intimidatingly fast, "I know."

"O-kay."

If she hadn't been so damn nervous, Elsa would have probably laughed at herself. _You're so ridiculous. It's a piece of paper._

"Just a piece of fuckin' paper," she murmured, slamming her hand down on the corner of her exam and resolutely flipping it right-side up. Looking at the centre of the page, she sighed and then moved her gaze to the number in red written on top.

_What the fuck?_

Elsa looked up at Anna, who was leaning against her desk with a smile on her face. The redhead shook her head when Elsa asked "You're joking, right?" and only continued to flash a bigger smile. Wide-eyed and confused, Elsa just gazed at her professor. _She has to be joking. How on earth did I get a 8.3?_

Slouching back in her chair, Elsa, unsure of the emotions that passed through her simply chuckled, "Alright. Wow."

"That is all you have to say for yourself?" miss Andersen said, "I've said it once and I'll say it again, you have got to give yourself more credit."

"I think this calls for some celebratory drink, no?"

* * *

Three hours later and Elsa and Anna were still lodged in a small café they noticed on the corner of the street that led to Arendelle University. The girls had been simply talking and laughing, and really, they'd been chatting about nothing in particular – just like any old conversation they might have had while texting. The flow of speech came quite natural to both of them, resulting in a lot of laughter and smiles.

Around them, life began to buzz as people got off from their jobs or finally had their last lecture. People slowly flooded the café and the street that it was built on. The bar was less than silent by now, a steady conversational hum reverberating through the room, but neither Elsa nor Anna seemed to care.

"So, miss Andersen," Elsa started, taking a sip of her beer and putting it back down, hand still wrapped around the glass, "Are you still going to tutor me?"

"If you feel like you still need it, I'd love to."

Elsa's breath hitched in her throat when she felt Anna's soft fingertips brush against the back of her hand. Her eyes shot up to meet her professor's, who looked at her with an expression Elsa couldn't decipher.

Slowly, the blonde uncurled her fingers from her glass of beer and rested her hand on the table. Anna's fingers remained on her skin, drawing little circles.

With a shaky inhale, Elsa turned her hand around so that her own fingertips came to rest against miss Andersen's. With every gentle, tentative touch Elsa's heart leapt out of her chest and her lips gradually formed into a sheepish smile as she nearly lost herself in the redhead's blue eyes. _Holy shit._

They sat there for a few moments in complete silence, hands intertwining further with each passing second.

"Well, the booze is going right through me," Anna said with a cough, earning a snort from Elsa as got off her seat, "So if you'll excuse me for a minute."

Elsa caught herself staring after her professor as she walked past, and adverted her eyes with a curse slipping past her lips. She cursed again when she also found her hands and fingers shaking like there was no tomorrow. Gripping her beer again, she considered downing the whole glass in one go.

She eventually did, when realizing her heartbeat wasn't slowing down any time soon.

"Hello, stranger."

Elsa nearly choked on her drink when she turned around and was met with Jasmine. _Jasmine!?_

"O-oh, god – hey! Hey, what are you doing here?"

The black-haired girl promptly put herself on the seat next to Elsa. "Does it matter?" she drawled, closing the little distance that was left between her and Elsa and subtly resting a hand on the blonde's thigh, "Also, I haven't seen you around much and that is the first thing you ask? I'm disappointed."

Elsa laughed, hoping that it didn't sound too forced. _Fuck, who even cares._

"So? How have you been, gorgeous?"

The blonde bit her lip, eyes nervously flitting to the restroom door ever so often, completely ignoring Jasmine's question.

"Hello? Earth to Elsa," Jasmine chuckled, waving her hand in front of Elsa's face, who almost fell off her seat when she retaliated, "Are you okay?"Murmuring an affirmative back, Elsa was painfully aware of the heat that Jasmine's hand was emitting on her leg. She was also painfully aware of the fact that Anna could return at any given moment and the blonde wasn't sure what to do or how to act when she did.

After what seemed like forever, miss Andersen came back to the table. A surprised yet friendly look occupied her face when she spotted the dark-haired girl at their table. The redhead halted at her seat, not yet sitting down until she had established the current events.

"Hello there. And who might you be?"

"A-Anna, this is Jasmine," Elsa interrupted, wishing to either evaporate or disappear, "Jasmine, Anna."

The two of them briefly shook hands.

"Wow, you two look alike, you guys like sisters or something?" Jasmine said, pointing between the two of them.

Elsa, at this point almost feeling the sweat drops trickling down her forehead, laughed anxiously, "It's funny, but um…"

Halfway through her sentence, Elsa realized how much worse she'd make the situation by explaining that no, in fact, Anna was her professor. Because really, who would think it morally okay to drink a couple of beers with your university teacher?

"Yes. We are – we're sisters," she blurted out.

* * *

"Sisters?" Anna asked incredulously, eyebrows nearly shooting into her hairline. There was a tug of a smirk playing on her lips, but her teal eyes radiated fire.

Jasmine had just left and Elsa felt like a disaster. She'd spent the last fifteen minutes trying to come up with believable sister stories.

Putting up her hands defensively, Elsa tried laughing it off, "Look, miss Andy… I-I didn't know what to say. Did you want me to explain that you're my teacher? My teacher who _should_ have a strictly professional relationship with me, with any of her students?"

The redhead titled her head to the side, mumbling something under her breath before shaking her head. She exhaled through her nose sharply.

"You're right."

"W-what? What do you mean?"

Elsa's heart hammered against her ribcage harder than she'd like to admit. She looked at Anna with expectant eyes.

"I should have a strictly professional relationship with you," Anna said, sliding off her seat. She fished some money out of her pocket and haphazardly placed it on the table. She shrugged her bag over her shoulder and briskly walked away, sighing "God, how could I be so stupid."

* * *

_Yay updates and stuff. I love you all so, so much._


	9. Late AM Talks

Languorous yet muggy summer air drifted in through Elsa's window, gently rustling the curtains, bringing in the hum of the occasional traffic. The bed underneath the wide-open window was unoccupied, though judging by the dishevelled look of the sheets, it seemed like someone had occupied it not too long ago.

A few dimmed lights lit up the room here and there, but most of it was cast into the shadows of the night.

Flashing red numbers on an alarm clock showed 2:36 AM. It was a Saturday – well, technically Sunday, and Elsa hadn't left her apartment the whole day.

The knot that resided in her stomach ever since Friday afternoon had made her too nervous to do anything productive. Sleep hadn't been an option either, as she kept on tossing and turning, imagining her phone buzzing and then picking it up only to find herself absentmindedly flicking through her un-updated inbox.

_It's too fucking hot to sleep anyway._

So Elsa had just been wandering through her room, burning holes in the rug from pacing around so much.

In hindsight, Elsa figured that she made some pretty dumb moves. The whole scene kept playing over and over in her mind and the blonde wanted to punch herself in the throat for being so careless. Yet she wasn't the only one who had done stupid things. After all, there had to be a reason that Anna left so quickly. And maybe it was a guilty conscious that prevented Anna from answering any of Elsa's messages.

Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe Anna really didn't want to talk to her anymore, and it was that exact uncertainty that made Elsa so nervous.

The blonde sat at the table, staring at her laptop screen that was set to the maximum brightness – causing her face to illuminate almost eerily white. She'd been doing nothing in particular but listening to slow, lazy music to induce sleepiness. It hadn't really worked so far.

Elsa kept gazing at her phone which lay a few feet away from her. Her hands itched to pick it up even though she knew she'd be faced with zero texts.

But of course, Elsa couldn't restrain herself and ended up messaging Anna after all.

_**Hey, at what time is tutoring tomorrow?**_

Elsa pressed the send button hesitantly, almost forgetting that it was half past two in the morning and that Anna was probably dead asleep. It wasn't like she expected a response anyway. She threw the phone away from her and turned to her laptop again, sighing as she tried her hardest to feel sleepy.

Her heart dropped rapidly when she heard her phone buzz against the wood of the table. Fumbling hands picked up the device and unlocked the screen.

**10.**

"Well, that's one way of being brief," Elsa mumbled.

_**Still up, huh?**_

With the drumming of her heart loud in her head, she waited for a response, bitterly remarking that she acted like a love-struck high schooler.

Elsa began to grow irritated after a few moments. The songs on her laptop kept on playing, filling the room with pleasantly sounding acoustics. The blonde didn't register much of it, though. Waiting for at least another ten minutes, she picked up her phone and threw herself on her bed.

_**Can't sleep 'cause it's so humid. What the hell are you still awake for?**_

**Checking exams.**

_Seems like someone flicked her bitch switch, jeez. _Tossing her phone away with a huff, Elsa could feel the frustration beginning to boil in the pit of her stomach. She got up and strolled to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water, momentarily eyeing the clock that nearly reached 3 AM. _Christ._

Elsa tried to calm herself down somehow, striding around in her small kitchen. She pondered about slamming her head into the sink, anything to just let her disappear from the world for just a little while. Dealing with sudden behavioural changes wasn't Elsa's forte, even though she knew she did it a lot too.

A small pang of let-down burst somewhere inside her when she returned from the kitchen with no new messages from Anna. Could've guessed, though.

She picked up her phone again for the umpteenth time today.

_**And? Got a lot of dumbasses in your class? **_Elsa could sense that Anna didn't want her to text, but right now she could care less.

**Elsa, what did we talk about last time?**

Biting her lip, the blonde felt anger humming deep in her chest. _**I'm taken back by the fact that you consider that talking.**_

**Right. Anyway, I told you, our contact from now on has to be strictly professional.**

_**Who's going to stop me?**_

**Are you serious right now?**

_**One hundred percent, miss Andy.**_

**I'm not kidding. All of this has to stop.**

_**Jesus, Anna, can you at least tell me why? This is ridiculous.**_

Elsa sent out multiple texts after her last one, but all went by unread. Her teacher ceased to respond, just like she'd done before.

The anger that she'd felt earlier, that quiet roar that soared up and down her windpipe had settled down to a calmer, yet more unsettling disappointment. Elsa exhaled hard through her nose, falling down onto her bed. Her phone slowly slipped out of her hands onto the wood floor below with a thud.

And even though it was too hot for blankets, Elsa pulled the covers up to her chin. She buried herself in them until their weight and warmth became too suffocating.

The blonde resurfaced, grunting as she pressed her face into her pillow, grimly acknowledging the fact that she most probably had a crush on her professor.

* * *

_Short chapter but eh. Hope you like it anyway! Will try to update as soon as possible._


	10. The Intern

In regards to the conversation of yesterday, Elsa didn't feel tutoring had been as bad or awkward or painful as she thought it would be.

There Anna was, rambling on about all kinds of intricate and complex chemical processes of which Elsa had already forgotten the name; her notebook lying open but struggling to keep up with actually writing something down – it felt normal. It felt the same as always.

Yet Elsa could see that Anna avoided looking into her eyes. She avoided having to come close to her desk to converse. The little things that stood out.

"Okay, time for our break. Be back in fifteen, alright?"

Elsa nodded.

"I'll go get some coffee," the blonde was nearly out of the classroom when she lingered at the doorway, hesitantly adding, "Do you want anything?"

Anna slid her glasses into her hair, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sat back, folding her legs. Elsa fought to breathe properly when her professor's gentle eyes looked into her own. The redhead held her gaze for a moment before nodding almost imperceptibly.

With wobbly legs Elsa made her way over to the hallways, muttering inaudible curses under her breath.

Standing at the coffee machine, Elsa wondered how on earth she didn't find out sooner that she fancied Anna. The reason why she never paid attention in class because all of it was directed onto miss Andersen. It wasn't the hardest conclusion to ever be drawn, to be honest. It was just rather confrontational. Quite scary, as well.

Elsa knew that it was morally wrong to have feelings for your professor. She knew that it was unspeakable and strange.

But then again, she wondered – why is it wrong? Despite their roles as student and tutor, Elsa and Anna were both human beings. Sensible, thinking, responsible human beings who exist outside their roles. Both skin and bones, both subject to feelings that can strike at any time – Elsa's crush being the proof of that.

She absentmindedly grabbed her coffee and tea for Anna and made her way back, still lost in thought.

Whatever she tried, Anna would not get off her mind.

It was quite frustrating – when Elsa hadn't yet figured out that she had a crush on her professor, she blamed bad class results on her behaviour. But now she knew what had been the real cause; her professor.

And it was harder not to look or think about Anna than to simply act like she wasn't paying attention.

Elsa came back into the classroom and did a double take when met with a tall, blond guy. He was standing at Anna's desk, chatting amicably. One of his rather large hands rested very near to the redheads shoulder and a flash of what Elsa deemed to be jealousy shot through her. _Jesus._

The blonde shuffled over to the pair, the cup of tea for Anna beginning to grow hot on her fingers. She put it down with a cough and made way to her seat.

"Thank you," Anna said when she eyed the tea, her voice laced with a reserved stiffness that made Elsa's eyebrows slant down.

"Elsa, this is Kristoff," her professor said icily when she sat down. She gestured at the man behind her who gave Elsa a wave. "Kristoff will be my intern for the upcoming two weeks. He's looking to major in biochemistry just like me so I figured he'd be best off here at Arendelle University."

Nodding, Elsa managed to choke out a small noise of affirmation. Her eyes trained on Kristoff as he plonked down on a seat near the door, clipboard in hand.

* * *

Miss Andersen's voice had become a mere hum, a buzz in her ears as the tutoring commenced. Elsa found herself either intensely looking at her professor or staring at Kristoff from her peripheral vision. _Kristoff. His name is as dumb as he looks._

For the last hour or so, Elsa had been observing him. He'd made about as much notes as she had, and stared at Anna about as much as she had.

The blonde gritted her teeth, inhaling deeply to shake off the feeling of jealousy. _What an asshole. I wish I could punch him in the nose._

When the tutoring had finally finished, Elsa quickly got up and packed her stuff. From the corner of her eye, Elsa saw Anna speak to Kristoff briefly. The sick feeling deep down in her stomach began to boil as she watched the man doing his best to flirt with miss Andersen.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, casting her eyes downward as she forcefully threw her books into her bag.

Looking back up, she watched strawberry blonde hair disappearing out of the room. Elsa cursed and swung her bag over her shoulder.

"Anna, wait," Elsa said, scrambling to get the rest of her belongings, bumping into a desk as she hurried to keep up with the redhead, "Hold up!"

It however seemed that Anna pretended she'd grown deaf. Elsa grunted as she increased her walking speed.

"Anna, come on. I _just_ want to talk to you for a minute."

At this point, Elsa was walking next to her professor, making it impossible for her to pretend like she didn't hear and/or see her student. "Fine," miss Andersen said, voice monotonous and flat as she stopped in her tracks. "What is it? Do you have a problem?"

"Well… yes and no."

Anna sighed, her forehead creasing with uncertainty and worry, "What's wrong?"

Elsa bit her lip, "It's the intern – I just feel like there's something that's not right. I don't – I mean, he's _your _intern so it's up to you wha-"

"Just get to the point," miss Andersen interjected sharply, and Elsa could see that her professor was getting irritated.

"He's flirting with you so obviously and I don't think that's right and you two should know better," the blonde blurted out, stumbling over her own words as she tried to say it as fast as she could. A heavy feeling of hypocrisy weighed down on her but she tried to pay no heed to it.

Anna exhaled hard, nostrils flaring open. She shot a fiery look at Elsa before wordlessly pivoting around on the heel of her shoe and marching off. Elsa was left talking to air for a second before she balled her fists and pursued Anna through the university building.

"Do you not see the problem with him?"

"Quite frankly, no."

"Jesus Christ, Anna, have you seen the way he looks at you?" Elsa fumed, heavily gesticulating as she spat out her words. The blonde felt a tornado of anger rising deep down in her chest when she did so much as think of the predatory twinkle in the intern's eyes whenever he looked at Anna.

"He's a man in his early twenties who most likely only dated two girls in his whole life. It's hormones, it's natural and you can't blame him."

Elsa laughed dryly, "Okay, so, science excuses him to act like a total dickwad?"

Miss Andersen remained quiet, increasing her pace as she strode through the hallways. The blonde, however, didn't miss a beat, "Oh! It does? God, Anna, I thought you, as a professor, should be rational and only focus on not trying to invest in any sort of relationship in this goddamn building!"

"Why are you so concerned with Kristoff?" the redhead snapped, briskly turning around. Her teal eyes were roaring as she looked at Elsa.

The latter nearly imploded, "He looks at you like some kind of animal! Like you-"

"Really?" Anna interrupted her, a single eyebrow curving upwards, "'Cause you look at me in the exact same way."

Elsa's jaw snapped close angrily, her lips thinning into a line as a lump settled in her throat at the words. The blonde figured that keeping her damn mouth shut would probably be the best option. She could feel the hot sting of frustration in her eyes and she bid herself not to cry out of sheer helplessness.

Did she know? Was Anna aware of the feelings that Elsa had been trying to repress?

The helplessness and her temper quickly dissipated into a growing anxiety. She felt her heart drop into her shoes like lead and almost instinctively, Elsa took two steps backwards. She struggled to put on her regular defensive front – Anna had caught her off-guard so much that the blonde for once in her life didn't know what to do. Panic and dread clutched around her heart which still felt like it was sinking through the ground already. Elsa felt lightheaded.

_Fuck, what if she knows? She can't know, she can never know._

With unsteady feet and shaky limbs, Elsa tried to look as furious as possible, matching miss Andersen's expression, "What the fuck, Anna?"

Still, Elsa couldn't quite hide her feelings.

It seemed that Anna had spotted just a glimmer of hurt, a glimpse of the flustered fear that clamped around her heart. The redhead's eyes grew soft and an apologetic frown knitted her eyebrows together over her bespectacled eyes, "Elsa. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Anna took a consoling step towards Elsa but that only caused the latter to back off even more.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll see you on Wednesday, miss Andy." the blonde exclaimed, regretting the trembling in her voice.

* * *

_Oh no? What's this? dRAMa? ANGST? NOOOOOOOOOOOoooo_

_You guys. Your support is amazing - every favourite, follow and/or review warms my heart._


	11. Even Later AM Talks

"Elsa, can you explain to me what the function of phosphate saline is?"

Chewing on the back end of her pen, the girl in question thought long and hard. She remembered reading up on this yesterday. She could see the page appearing before her mind's eye but the words inclined to blur, making it impossible for Elsa to form any coherent thought about it, "… It's a buffer solution I think."

Anna pulled a 'not bad' face, writing down the blonde's remark on the whiteboard, "Yes, okay. What else?"

It was awkwardly silent as Elsa really tried her best to recall what she had read – her mind had been like a sieve the last few days, today included.

She looked at her professor, painfully aware of the blank look that she probably had going for her. Anna nodded at her encouragingly but to no avail. Elsa could almost hear the chirping cricket choir coming in through the open windows.

"Providing a suitable chemical environment for good activity and stability of DNA polymerase," Kristoff interjected from his seat at the door. He immediately snapped his mouth shut, eyes growing wide but a laugh was still curling around his lips.

Elsa slowly and incredulously turned her head to look at him as if to check if he'd really just answered for her. _What the fuck?_

"Sorry," he added, a sheepish grin on his face as he scratched his head, "I don't think I'm as patient as I thought I was."

Miss Andersen laughed her wind chime laugh – _God, it sounds so lovely_ – and told her intern that it was okay, only adding to Elsa's irritation. The latter grunted and slumped back in her chair, blowing a wisp of lost hair back into place, "Yeah, seems like it, douche," she muttered.

"I'm sorry, Elsa, did you say anything?"

"No. I said that I should've know the answer myself."

Anna narrowed her eyes at her, something reminiscent of a smirk on her lips, "Okay, good. Let's continue with DNA polymerase and why having a buffer solution such as phosphate saline, among others, is so important."

After what seemed like an eternity, miss Andersen finally dismissed her. Luckily, the rest of the lesson had gone by without Kristoff interrupting.

Elsa was already out the door and marching through the hallway when she hear the man in question call, "Hey, Elsa!"

Even after a mere three days, Elsa could already not stand the low, booming voice of Anna's intern. She groaned loudly, briefly wondering if she could fake not having heard him. She then felt a shovel-sized hand land on her shoulder. _Welp, I guess not. Here we go._

The blonde stopped to turn to Kristoff, rolling her eyes so violently that she was afraid they'd roll out of their sockets, "Yeah, what up?"

"It's hard to catch you, you know," he said, swiping pretend-sweat off his brow with a laugh that earned not even a chuckle back, "I wanted to ask you something."

Elsa shot him a confused glance when he fell silent, "Yeah? Well? I haven't got all day."

"Do you – do you think Anna would go on a date with me?"

You could hear a pin hit the floor as the echo of Kristoff's last words died out. He looked at Elsa expectantly. She, however, was too busy trying to control herself and her thoughts. _Holy shit._ Her stomach felt eerily empty and an unpleasant warmth that raced through her veins nestled itself there._ Holy fucking shit._

Looking Kristoff dead in the eye, Elsa had to resist the anger that was charring her throat as it bubbled up inside her. It felt weird to hear Anna's name drop from his lips rather than her own and she absentmindedly remarked that she was in _way_ to deep. Ever since she'd realized she was in love with miss Andersen, she noticed things she didn't before. Like, how she liked to watch her talk about biology. Or how much she enjoyed her laugh, and how cute she looked with glasses on.

Elsa took a shaky breath, diminishing her thoughts as she clenched her jaw, "I'm confused; why on earth are you asking _me_ that?"

The man before her shrugged, "I don't know. You and Anna seem pretty close, I guess. I don't know – there's just something between you."

It was a battle for Elsa to keep her lips from curling into a huge grin, but she was pretty sure Kristoff could see the surprise in her eyes. She cleared her throat, curving up one eyebrow as she huffed, "Miss Andersen and I aren't close. So, go knock yourself out or whatever."

Without another word, the blonde pushed past Kristoff, leaving him looking at Elsa walking away over his shoulder in confusion.

* * *

Slamming the door shut, Elsa threw her bag down with force, for a moment not caring about damaging whatever was in it.

The blonde angrily smashed her keys on a small table near the door, hissing in pain as they jabbed into her hand. She had to fight the urge to smash the tall, standing lamp that stood beside the table against the wall as she strode through her apartment.

She was furious. Absolutely livid.

As she paced around the room, she couldn't understand how he had the guts to ask her if he could take Anna on a date. The idea alone of him and the redhead going out together on such intimate terms initiated rumbling thunderstorms inside Elsa. _How dare he? What is he thinking? He barely knows Anna._

Truth be told, she still didn't know Anna quite that well herself, despite their frequent contact and the hours spent at the coffee shop. And the bar.

Now that she thought about it, the blonde just hoped that during those conversations they'd shared a lot more than Kristoff ever did in three days' time.

Elsa sighed heavily, deciding to make something that resembled dinner. She walked to the kitchen and checked the fridge, taking out a few things and arranging them across the counter top. A small burst of blue flames as she turned on the stove, shoving a butter-covered pan over it.

_There's just something between you… _Elsa kept mulling what Kristoff had said over and over in her head. What did he mean? And was there really such a connection between them that others could see – something that Elsa thought was just her own imagination.

It wouldn't have been the first time that she'd mistake her fantasies for reality.

She scoffed, smiling half-heartedly at the memory. She could still remember her first love – a girl in high school. Tall, with doe-like brown eyes. She'd fallen for her head over heels and they were so close that Elsa thought it was a mutual feeling. When she'd kissed her in front of the whole school on senior prom only to be pushed away roughly and laughed at by the entire student body, the blonde had realized that she had been alone in that feeling.

She'd lost her best friend and got thrown head-first into a world of mockery and bullying. Elsa would be damned if anything like that would happen again.

The smell of food slowly but surely replaced the uneasy feeling in Elsa's stomach into an intense hunger. Her thoughts quietly settled down, however not quite disappearing from her mind. They simmered there, glowing like embers; ready to start a fire as soon as the blonde pondered too much about it.

Figuring that it'd be better to let it go for now, Elsa dunked a load of fried rice and vegetables on her plate and made her way for the living room.

She put down her food and went back for a drink. When returning to the table with a pack of milk, Elsa was met with her phone going off.

_I swear to God, if this is Anna calling… _

She grabbed the phone, laughing humourlessly when it was indeed miss Andersen who was trying to contact her. _So now she does care, huh?_

The blonde bit her lip. She felt the cool metal buzz against her skin and she was torn between picking up or not. Was she calling to ask her something about the tutorings? About Kristoff? Or, Elsa thought with a twist of her insides, about their situation?

"Nah, fuck off," Elsa muttered decisively, tossing her phone on her bed.

* * *

Elsa woke up in the middle of the night by a particularly loud honk of a truck.

Her eyes shot open, not sure what had woken her up. She stared out her window and watched the curtains rustle, getting eyefuls of starry sky between the gaps.

The blonde was falling back asleep when the truck honked again, nearly making her jump. She cursed, shooting a sleepy, heavy-lidded glance at her alarm clock. It was almost four in the morning and, with the thought that her alarm wouldn't go off for at least a couple of hours, Elsa fell back into her pillow. Lazy fingers curled themselves around her phone that lay on her mattress and unlocked the device.

Her heart rate increased when she was faced with three missed calls and an inbox that was about to explode. Wide awake, Elsa sat up and flicked open her messages.

**Elsa, pick up the phone.**

**Would you please just pick up the phone, I need to talk to you.**

**Elsa.**

**Look, I know you're avoiding me but we need to discuss this whole thing between us. This isn't healthy.**

Elsa fought off the incredibly stupid smile that was making its way to her lips.

**Okay, I didn't mean that. I meant that this whole avoiding thing isn't healthy. God, I'm not making any sense. Elsa, please, I just need to see you.**

Elsa's eyes grew wide as she read through similar messages – there were tons of them. She tried to ignore the loud beating of her heart and the hot blush that hat crawled onto her cheeks. Even though she didn't know the exact reason why Anna wanted to talk, Elsa was glad she had at least addressed it.

After reading and re-reading all of the texts, the blonde curled up under the blankets once again, falling asleep with the traces of a sheepish grin on her face.

* * *

_I never updated this quickly? Not sure how I feel about this chapter though. Tell me what you think?_


	12. I like you

Elsa'd almost forgotten all of miss Andersen's text messages – so when looking at her phone to snooze her alarm for the third time she jolted awake.

Her blood began to rush through her and she swore loudly when she realized she'd fallen asleep without answering any of them. Then again, it had been 4 AM, and Anna had probably sent them knowing the blonde would sleep through them and read them in the morning.

Her fingers fumbled a reply along the lines of agreeing for a meet-up of some sorts to talk things over.

She dragged her body out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom to begin her daily routine. It wasn't much to be impressed with, really; a simple brush of the hair and teeth and a good old splash of, preferably, cold water in the face. Elsa then stumbled over to her dresser to pick out some clothes.

It had come to the blonde's awareness that ever since she started to develop feelings for her professor, her time in front of the mirror trying out different outfits had increased. A lot. Not that she'd been neglectful of dressing herself before any of this, not at all. Elsa liked to buy and wear as many clothes as possible. It was just that for some reason she felt the ridiculous need to impress Anna with a good sense of style.

And today that need seemed to be at its peak. Anna's texts haunted the back of her mind, words swirling and racing around as she rummaged through heaps of jumpers, jeans and shirts. Nothing that passed her hands seemed to be fitting enough and it frustrated Elsa.

In the end, after an embarrassing half an hour of searching and searching and _searching, _the blonde had finally dressed herself.

With a light flush of agitation on her face, Elsa mumbled something to herself as she shut her closet door with a thump. _Congratulations. You've actually done it – you're actually behaving like a love-struck high-schooler. Fucking amazing._

Movement still thick with sleep, she sluggishly fashioned herself some breakfast rather slowly, half aware that she was running late for class. To be honest, she'd love to be late today. Anything to postpone having to see Anna.

It wasn't that Elsa didn't want to be with her professor, it was the whole "let's fix this" vibe for the conversation that was scheduled that was making her anxious.

Shoving her breakfast into her mouth, the blonde was aware that she was actually really running late.

She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, jumping into her favourite boots in the hallway. Upon locking the door, Elsa realized she forgot to bring a coat but luckily, it wasn't too cold out. Elsa locked the door and made her way to the university.

About halfway through, her pace got slower and slower and she began to yawn non-stop. _I haven't been this tired in forever, perfect fucking timing, body._

As if she hadn't already planned it, the blonde paid a visit to the cafeteria close to the university ordered her coffee, a whirlwind of worry starting to trash around in her stomach as she waited. She watched a clock mounted on one of the walls, the hands seeming to take and eternity to move – all the while her nerves were rocketing.

After what felt like three hours, Elsa's order got called out and the blonde gratefully took the cup of coffee into her trembling hands. She turned around and stalked off, a growl on her features as she did as much as _think_ about talking to Anna, an immense feeling of dread creeping upon her like cold mist on autumn evenings. Quickly looking down to check if she had all her belongings, she pushed past a crowd of people to exit the establishment.

When she looked up again, the blonde was faced with a bespectacled miss Andersen, who smiled half-heartedly, "Hi, Elsa."

"Oh," Elsa gasped inaudibly, her mouth forming a perfect circle, white-hot panic suddenly coursing through her. She swallowed a couple of times, a painful blush racing onto her cheeks as she fumbled with her hands, unsure of where to hold them, "A-Anna, um, good morning? Didn't think I'd see you here."

Anna elicited a chuckle that made Elsa's panic disappear like snow in the sun. The redhead seemed not at all fazed by the collision, "I did."

When the blonde in front of her squinted confusedly at her, she explained, "You come here every morning. I figured that if I want-""Woah, woah," Elsa interrupted, tilting her head to the side, a lopsided grin playing on her lips, "Are you saying you're _stalking_ me, miss Andy?"

"The coffee you bring consistently brandishes this cafeteria's logo on the cups," Anna shrugged, "As I was saying, I figured that if I wanted to talk to you I'd have to catch you rather off-guard. So, let's sit down. Tutoring is cancelled for the day."

"To the point, eh? I can admire that."

"Let's not make any assumptions," miss Andersen said bluntly, leading Elsa to a booth in the corner of the coffee house.

Nerves kicked in again at Anna's sudden harsh words. Fear wrought around her heart as Elsa sat down and did her best to breathe regularly. She couldn't quite figure out why she was so nervous because if anything, this whole conversation was supposed to clear the air between them. What was bugging her so much?

Anna sat down, the leather of her seat squeaking in protest. Elsa followed her lead and sat across, ignoring the loud thumps of her heart in her chest.  
_  
_Elsa wiggled around in her seat uncomfortably, doing everything except looking Anna in the eyes - she could feel the redhead's gaze bore a hole into the side of her face. Still, she hadn't spoken a single word, and with every moment passing, Elsa felt the air thicken to the point where she felt like suffocating.

"Jesus, Anna," Elsa blurted, words seeping out of her mouth before she could stop them, "If you're gonna talk to me _please_ don't just _sit_ there looking at me."

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking."

Wrapping her shaking hands around her coffee, the blonde urged on, "Well, we're here to think together and out loud, yeah? So let's."

"You're awfully complacent for once," Anna noted, a hint of a smile curling her lips. She took a sip of her tea, her tiny hands covered by her oversized sweater around the cup, her icy blue eyes never ceasing to gaze into Elsa's through steamy clouds – Elsa decided that it was the most adorable sight she'd ever seen in her life.

"Ah, you know, I tend to be when it concerns matters that affect me personally."

Miss Andersen simply nodded, a gentle, non-committal hum rising up from her chest. She sat back in the booth, finally adverting her gaze as she stirred her tea.

"Elsa, I… I know that there's something between us," Anna began in an exhale, long-lashed eyes flitting up to look at Elsa again, "I can feel that you feel it too. At the café the other week or so, when you touched my hand, I… There's – look, I just don't know what to do with it. With this."

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked, pretending to be dumb.

"I- I mean that I like you, Elsa. Very much so and I just thought that you should know. You know, before you start asking questions or anything."

Biting her lips, Elsa waited for the punch of realization to hit her in the stomach but it never came. No mind-blowing euphoria that one experiences when the person you're in love tells you they like you, no enormous smile exploding from her lips. Nothing of it. Just another growing irritation in her chest.

Maybe it was because Anna was so matter-of-factly about it. She acted like she was reciting a simple fact from a textbook.

"Okay, well," Elsa coughed, not really knowing how to reply, "Why are you saying it like it's something that's never going to actually happen?"

"Like what is never actually going to happen?"

_You liking me as much as I probably like you. _"Us."

Anna's eyes clouded over, "I can't do this, Elsa. I can't and I'm not allowed – you're my pupil."

"Who cares!" Elsa shouted back, slamming her fist on the table. Their cups rattled loudly and alerted customers shot confused glances in their direction, "Who even fucking cares, Anna? We're both old and wise enough to make decisions on our own and some crusty old university principal is not going to stop us in that."

Anna picked up her cup of tea again, resting her chin on the edge, "I wish it was that simple."

"But it is, isn't it?" Elsa said, slumping back into her seat, at loss for further words – she'd expected a full-blown confession or something from Anna's side, but all that she had gotten was yet even more confusing, more frustrating.

"No, Elsa. You've no idea how hard this is for me, to struggle with these feelings and-"

"Oh, you think this is easy for _me_? We're in the same boat here, Anna, whether you like it or not."

The redhead fell quiet, apology written all over her features. She sighed and downed the remainder of her tea, brow creased with wrinkles as she grimaced. The tension in the air between them slowly and silently died out. Elsa had resorted to simply staring out the window, waiting for the raging storm inside her to stop rampaging around. She had to firmly grit her teeth together to prevent any stupid and possibly regretful words to tumble out.

"So… even though you can't act on it, are you saying that you're in love with me?" Elsa tried after a while, voice soft and gentle. Her blue eyes pried into miss Andersen's who looked at her with such a genuinely kind and affectionate gaze that Elsa thought her heart would stop. The redhead then slowly shook her head.

"That's silly, Elsa. I can't fall in love. Love is chemicals and reactions in the brain and I don't believe in it."

"How can you be so factly about it, like your feelings are just some- some object? How do you know if you never _try_, Anna?"

The redhead bit her lip, eyes glimmering with uncertainty, but then she shook her head, "No. I said what I wanted to say and that's final."

* * *

_Sorry for the kinda-slow update. I've been sick for the last week so I've been sleeping a lot. Hope you like this chapter!_


	13. Testing One Two Three

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I'm not the most careful person around, you know."

Miss Andersen huffed, waving away Elsa's continued self-doubting, "You're gonna be fine, lab experiments are fun!"

"Yes, okay," the blonde replied, following her professor through the hallway, heavily gesticulating, "But the question is if you trust me enough to start messing with DNA samples. Because I sure as hell don't trust myself enough to even hold a single test tube."

"I said you'll be fine. I'll be there holding your hand the entire time."

Elsa remarked that ever since their meet up at the coffee place, most of the awkward and icy tension between them had disappeared. Miss Andersen didn't give her any funny looks, she smiled at her again and they could talk just like before the redhead's conscious had started acting up.

And even though Elsa wasn't quite satisfied with the situation at hand – knowing that Anna felt their chemistry too but didn't allow herself to follow it up, it was good.

For now.

The blonde snapped out of her thoughts just in time to see a lab coat being hurled her way. She clumsily caught it and elicited a groan, "Oh man, do I really have to wear one of these?" she sighed deliberately loud, holding up the white fabric, frowning.

"Come on now," her professor retorted playfully as she put on her own coat, "We'll look absolutely _dapper_, Elsa."

Elsa had to agree with that; even in a lab coat that was slightly too big for her, miss Andersen looked absolutely stunning. It made her look more mature, especially since her hair was up in a bun, wisps of unruly hair sticking out here and there – the blonde had to try her best not to stare at her as they walked into the lab.

Despite being at the university for quite a while, Elsa had never been in this part of the building. A sterile, damp smell entered her nose as soon as she passed the threshold of the room. It was a big laboratory, white and bright, strange machinery that she couldn't identify standing on desks and tables.

The blonde walked into the room, trailing her hand across the edge of a table littered with tubes, phials, flasks and bottles with transparent liquids in them.

Her voice echoed lightly off the walls as she leant against a table, hands crossed in front of her chest, "Cool."

"Cool?" Anna chuckled, her own voice joining Elsa's reverberating one, "You see this lab and all the things you can do and you manage 'cool'?"

Elsa simply shrugged, a crooked grin on her lips as she pushed herself off the table.

Anna ushered her a bit further into the lab and made her sit down on a chair near a table that displayed a range of appliances. The redhead got herself a chair too and rolled it next to Elsa's, giving her some hand outs on the machinery and the tests they were about to do today.

While Anna went off on a ramble explaining how DNA examinations and experiments in the lab went about, Elsa proceeded to look around a bit more. Three other students were doing tests at the other end of the room, their hushed, whispering voices filling the air with a pleasant hum.

But also, she watched miss Andersen. A great deal. She watched the glimmer in her eyes, the tug of a smile that played on her rosy lips, her hands flying about as she tried to illustrate her words. Elsa felt her heart swell at the sight and for a moment she couldn't even find it in herself to repress the feeling.

"Would you be so kind as to get me some flasks and test tubes from the storage, Elsa?" miss Andersen asked, successfully pulling the blonde out of her thoughts. She gave the girl in question the most adorable puppy eyes in the history of mankind – and really, who was Elsa to say no to that?

Trudging over to the back of the lab, the blonde jammed the keys Anna had given her into the lock of the door and dove in to find the utilities.

It took her longer than she had initially thought.

She felt like she'd spent hours searching for the damned items but she just couldn't for the life of her find them. Also, it didn't quite help that the storage was the size of a shoebox – and a small one at that. Elsa had to pass through the door sideways (and holding in her stomach) to pass the shelves and racks.

Her eyes flitted across the stock. Microscopes, burners, gloves and all sorts of glassware except the ones Anna specified her to get.

"Elsa?" she heard her professor call, "Are you there? Is everything okay?"

Squeezing herself through the very narrow closet, Elsa muttered something about which dumbass built this horribly small storage space and thought it was an excellent idea. Looking back to make sure she didn't knock over any glassware, the blonde shimmied to the door only to feel herself bumping into something soft.

It took about two seconds for Elsa to realize that it was miss Andersen. It then took about a split second extra for her to whip her head around so fast it hurt.

Deep, dark roaring teal eyes met her own and Elsa could feel her legs turning to jelly.

"Oh!" Anna managed to sputter out, her face rapidly turning red. She looked down, an embarrassed and shy smile curling around her lips.

Elsa struggled to keep her hands anywhere that wasn't near her professor, but the small space didn't leave her with a lot of options. All the while she tried her hardest to ignore the delicate pressure of Anna's body against her own as the latter clumsily worked her way back out of the storage. _Oh man._

After a few seconds of shuffling around, miss Andersen decided that walking backwards wasn't really the way to go about this task. She turned around on her heels but in doing so, she knocked over a big flask with her elbow.

Elsa and Anna both tried to catch the flask at the same time. It happened fast and Elsa blinked in confusion when her hands met warm skin instead of glass.

A quick gaze downward confirmed her suspicions; Anna had caught it first, and the blonde was now standing there with her hands wrapped around her professor's as they just stood there, both holding the flask. The redhead's eyes flitted from the flask to their hands, to Elsa's gaze and back again while a nervous chuckle rolled past her lips, blush intensifying, "R-right. Um, sorry about that. What can I say, 'got quick reflexes."

_Oh my God – how much cliché can a person handle on a day?_

After a long stare that made Elsa more than embarrassed and a little fuzzy inside, miss Andersen adverted her eyes and yanked her hands back, leaving Elsa to grasp the flask before it fell again. Breathing out hard, her tutor looked at the floor, shuffling around for a bit, proceeding to try to exit the storage for the second time.

Grumbling something under her breath, Elsa put the flask back on the shelf, cheeks matching Anna's in colour. She hated how her professor made her go so _weak_.

Turning back around, the blonde barely had the time to register that the back of Anna's lab coat got snatched behind one of the storage racks. The redhead tumbled backward with the speed of a freight train and in just a few seconds both of the girls fell to the floor in quite the mess of limbs.

"Jesus!"

The blonde was aware of a quick pain along her back but even more so of Anna pressing against her, who was already struggling to get up.

If there had been any air left in Elsa's lungs, it would've been knocked out right now. Upon opening her eyes and looking up as if in a daze, Anna's inviting blue eyes looked right back at her. Elsa could see the sprinkle of freckles over her professor's cheeks and nose and she was sure that her heart had ceased to beat right there.

And there it was again – that tension in the air that Anna had described as 'something between them'. Elsa could feel it clearly, like electricity zapping around.

Anna's hands were on either side of Elsa's head as she hovered above her, caught in mid-stumble. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as if she wanted to say something and Elsa watched amusedly as miss Andersen's cheeks only reddened more the longer she gazed into her eyes.

When Elsa blinked it seemed to have broken the mesmerizing state both girls had been in, and Anna quickly continued to pick herself up. Elsa followed suit, smoothly sliding out from beneath Anna's position. She was quicker than her professor and offered her hand to help miss Andersen get back up.

"Are you okay?" Elsa asked gently, pulling Anna up when she'd accepted the outstretched hand.

"Yeah, I'm just being clumsy old me. Sorry," the redhead replied, ducking her head the apology that Elsa waved away nonchalantly.

"That's okay. I think you look rather cute being clumsy, miss Andy."

Anna was now standing, her glasses resting a bit crooked on her nose and her face still ablaze with a blush. She smiled as she slowly released Elsa's hand and straightened out her lab coat with a cough, muttering a tiny 'thank you' to a widely smiling blonde student.

A small silence stretched between them and Elsa was aware of the chemistry that still flickered between them, causing her to fiddle with the hem of her shirt. Anna stood equally anxious, her eyes flitting back and forth until she finally spoke up, "L-let me just help you find the test tubes, okay?"

* * *

_Trying to update as quick as possible. I wrote a second person perspective fic not too long ago so the third person in this chapter might feel forced - my apologies. Thank you all for the get-well-soon wishes!_


	14. The Intern: Take 2

Elsa had started to like lab days on early Monday mornings like today. It was a surprising welcome after weeks of dull tutoring in the classroom. Anna seemed to also notice that her student was much more lively and mentally present on laboratory days, resulting in a more frequent scheduling of them.

And really, Elsa was way too happy to oblige to them. Waking up early on a _Monday _wasn't even a problem anymore.

She walked through the hallway of the university, boots squeaking against the linoleum. A breeze came in through the windows, rustling the line of lab coats that she approached. Her heart was beating a little faster than normal and Elsa couldn't decide if it was because she was going to see Anna or because she'd just walked up three flights of stairs.

_Probably the former but let's hope the latter, _she thought, exhaling through her nose hard as she donned one of the white coats and went in to the lab.

Upon opening the door, Elsa was immediately met with a bright-eyed, enthusiastic miss Andersen.

"I've already prepped the cells so you can immediately go ahead and take a look," Anna beamed with pride, an adorable smile bursting onto her face. She shoved her glasses from her hair back onto her nose as she drew away from the microscope and Elsa had to resist the urge to take the redhead's cute face in her hands and kiss her senseless.

"Alright. What kinda cells are they?"

Anna raised her eyebrows, catching Elsa's sideways glance just before she looked through the microscope, "We've literally been discussing processes within the human body for weeks now. They're human cells, silly. Nervous tissue ones, to be precise."

"Alright, alright, miss Andy. It's cool," Elsa laughed, eye glued to the lens, "How do I adjust this thing though? I can't see shit."

"Ah, there's a wheel on the left side that you can turn," Anna began, shuffling close to Elsa. She positioned herself just slightly behind the blonde, who stiffened in response. Goose bumps exploded on her skin as Anna leaned over her and slid her hand down her arm onto her hand, guiding Elsa's fingers until they grazed the indented side of the wheel.

"T-Thanks," the blonde stuttered, feeling all the heat in her body rise to her head. She flushed even more when Anna proceeded to stay where she was until the microscope was properly adjusted. The redhead slowly retracted her hand, warm, shiver-inducing traces covering Elsa's arm as her professor pulled away.

Staring through the lens of the microscope without really seeing anything, Elsa laughed nervously, "So, what am I supposed to see, exactly?"

Elsa regretted asking that question because Anna proceeded to jump right back into her former position.

The air in the room was nearly palpable and it grew thicker with each tentative touch and Elsa, faintly aware of miss Andersen explaining things to her, completely zoned out.

Biting her lip, the blonde tried not to pay too much attention to her professor constantly brushing up against her. Anna circled around her, her gentle hands adjusting Elsa's own and leaving the places she touched tingling. Her small frame pressed into Elsa's every now and then, every instance seemingly more intense and sensitive than the one preceding.

The struggle to breathe normally became harder with the second and Elsa began to feel annoyed and, admittedly, slightly aroused. She didn't know whether her tutor was completely unaware of her doings or that this was blatant flirting – either way, both did not quite agree with Anna's decision not to follow her feelings. Though Elsa sure wasn't about to complain and wasn't even sure she could find her voice to do so, it gave her false hope and a mind full of thoughts running wild.

"Anna," Elsa sighed after a while, turning around to face her professor, "We talked about this," she gestured between the two of them, "and you're really not helping."

The redhead's eyes grew in nearly twice in size, cheeks colouring bright pink when she picked up the hint. Her gaze immediately darted down to stare at her shoes. She muttered an apology, nervous fingers fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, effectively vanishing any irritation that Elsa had just a second before.

Impulsively, Elsa lightly touched Anna's arm, her lips curling into a reassuring smile, "It's okay. I just wasn't sure if you were aware of... you know."

"Of me completely throwing myself over and around you?"

"Amongst other things, yeah," the blonde replied with a smirk, one eyebrow curving upwards.

Miss Andersen's cheeks flushed even darker, "I'm sorry. I really didn't think about it at all and I should've I didn't know you'd-"

"Anna," Elsa chuckled, starting to feel her insides go fuzzy again, "I could practically feel you breathe against my neck, what the hell did you think was going to happen?"

That comment had Anna searching for words and Elsa amusedly watched her open and close her mouth multiple times. She laughed, "Hey, take it as a compliment. I'd be flattered if someone got turned on by my doing," a grin curled around the blonde's lips as she took a step closer. _What the fuck am I doing? _

"I- I am flattered," was all Anna could say before Elsa pinned her professor against the desk in a fit of temporary insanity. The redhead stumbled backwards, hands gripping the edge of the wooden table to stabilise herself. Fiery, uncertain eyes met Elsa's equally wild gaze as the latter placed her hands on either side of Anna's.

"Elsa," miss Andersen began in a voice that was meant to be stern, but broke down into a whisper halfway through.

"Yes?" the blonde coyly responded, letting go of the table and resting one hand on Anna's neck, "Something wrong?"

The teacher managed to choke out a negative. Elsa trailed her hand across the skin down to the nape of the redhead's neck, onto her collarbone. Her knees grew weak and her head was spinning when Anna buckled against her as the blonde's fingers came to rest at her sternum.

Spurred on by the fact that miss Andersen didn't protest, Elsa let her hands slide further down, across the redhead's waist. Her fingertips skimmed the silky tank top Anna was wearing, more than aware that it was very thin and that she felt the heat emanate from the skin that resided underneath and the blonde nearly lost her mind.

The same heat sparked within Elsa when Anna let out a small purr of appreciation, barely a whisper. Elsa's cheeks flared up, pulse increasing.

She took in a sharp breath of air as she leant in. She took in every detail of Anna's face through heavy-lidded eyes; the dip of her nose dotted with freckles, the long but light lashes that nearly bat against her own, the curve of her cheeks and jawline. And _God_, those deep, sparkling teal eyes that roared with a fire that Elsa had never seen before.

Their lips were now only an inch apart and Elsa's stomach churned pleasantly as miss Andersen's warm, rigid breath ghosted over her skin.

"Anna? Are you in here?"

As soon as Kristoff's voice boomed through the classroom the two girls jolted apart. Like a deer caught in headlights, Elsa's head snapped to the side just in time to see the bulky man marching across the threshold of the room and she was so scared that he could read everything from the expression on her face. Her heart was racing inside her ribcage, ringing in her ears and time seemed to stretch on for an eternity as she watched Kristoff's eyes glimmer dangerously knowing.

His pace slowed down and his eyebrows knitted together in a frown, eyes underneath darting between Anna and Elsa, "Hey, oh. Am I interrupting something?"

Luckily for Elsa, he seemed to be the biggest and most oblivious idiot on the entire planet. Exhaling a shaky breath, the blonde allowed herself to exhale. She picked up her bag that she had abandoned on the floor as nonchalantly as possible, muttering a curse under her breath when she found her hands trembling.

"N-no!" miss Andersen squeaked, her face quickly turning bright red, "No, Kristoff, I- I was just having a conversation with Elsa, that's all."

"Are you sure? You can finish, I can wait in the hallway just fine."

Elsa rolled her eyes, hoisting her bag over her shoulder and repressing the urge to groan out loud. _How did he ever get an internship?_

"No, it's quite alright," Anna pressed, her hands fumbling as she straightened out her clothes and composure. She slid her glasses back on her nose, her professional air rushing back to her as she spoke with a restrained voice, "You wanted to see me, Kristoff?"

As Anna exited the room with her intern, Elsa was left to clutch at her heart because it felt like it was bound to jump right out of her chest. She could still feel the adrenaline rush through her body, feel the heat coursing through her veins. The blonde sighed, shaking her head lightly as the scene repeated itself in her head. _So close._

_Too close, perhaps_, she thought as she swallowed back her feelings. She didn't want to think about it but it couldn't be helped.

What would she have done, had Kristoff walked in just a few seconds later? What would she have done if someone found out that she'd been kissing her professor, or at least wanted to do so more than anything – Elsa began to develop a gnawing worry that Anna might have been right about it all along.

After a moment of recollection and the notice that she couldn't control her rapidly beating heart no matter what, the blonde left the room too, the new-found anxiety slowly clawing at her consciousness, breaking it down and filling it with uncertainty.

She absentmindedly trudged through the hallway, not really knowing where her feet were taking her. Her mind was still reeling from what had happened.

As she passed a classroom somewhere in her peripheral vision Elsa caught a glimpse of red hair. And, as she immediately associated it with her professor, she turned her head almost involuntarily to shoot a glance at the classroom's window by the door as she walked by.

Her heart froze in her chest and then dropped when she saw Kristoff towering over Anna – whose face was stained with tears, eyes helpless and afraid.

Not thinking twice, Elsa stormed into the classroom, slamming the door, shouting over to the blond man cornering Anna, "You back off!"

"Woah, feisty-pants," Kristoff started, holding his hands up in defence but not taking a step back, "Calm down, now."

"I will not calm down," came the blonde's reply, spat out through gritted teeth as she slowly and cautiously made her way over to the pair. Her jaw tightened as she trained her eyes on the man in front of Anna, ready to pounce on him when he did so much as move a single muscle, "You don't tell me to do anything, asshole. I said back off."

Elsa gave herself the luxury of shooting a split-second glance at miss Andersen and the blonde's stomach turned at the broken expression on her face.

For the second time today, adrenaline rampaged within Elsa. Lightheaded, trembling and scared but braver than she'd ever been before, she took a few more steps closer to Kristoff. His eyes flashed and a growl erupted from his lips – it didn't stop Elsa. She just clenched her fists tighter, knuckles cold and white.

"I'm warning you for the last time," she hissed, squaring out her shoulders, furrowing her brow. Elsa was pretty sure her eyes shot fire.

"It's her own fault, really," Kristoff said, scoffing. He grabbed one of Anna's braids and twirled it around in his hand, eyes firing up menacing. He chuckled humourlessly, "I asked her nicely to go on a date with me, but no. The bitch rejected me. She should've seen it coming."

Elsa couldn't even hear the rest of what the blond was saying. She was blind. She was completely blind, red clouding her vision. Fuelled by the fury and utter loathing that erupted in her chest and rumbled like a storm she leapt forward, not stopping until she felt her fist connect with Kristoff's nose.

* * *

_I feel like this chapter is rushed but it's also not? Tell me what you think of these developments!_


	15. Bruises

Elsa groaned hard as she got up out of bed. Her whole body was aching, throbbing and screaming out at every small muscle movement.

"God damn."

Cautiously she pushed herself off the mattress, stumbling over to the bathroom, grunts of discomfort slipping past her sleepy lips ever so often. Still half-asleep, the blonde turned on the tap to treat her groggy self to a face full of cold water. Gently, Elsa splashed the liquid in her face, minding the bruises.

She buried her face in the soft fabric of a towel, slowly patting dry all the painful areas of her face.

Tired, weary blue eyes looked back from the mirror surface. One eye was reduced to a more narrow version of the other one surrounded by swollen, blue and purple skin. Elsa turned her face sideways for a bit to examine the cut on her lip. It still didn't look _that _good, but at least it had stopped bleeding ever so often.

She exhaled deeply, rubbing her eyes – or well, her eye, before making her way to the living room.

With a great, agonizing sigh Elsa plopped down on a chair, momentarily closing her eyes. She noted grimly that she'd give anything to just so she could go to tutoring.

But that wasn't the case. Because punching Kristoff had not only earned her a two-week suspension, but also a few hits from the man himself.

After Elsa'd punched him on the nose (Elsa could still see the blood gushing from it, blotting his shirt with dark, wet stains) he staggered back, hands cradling his face as he grunted something incomprehensible. He proved to be a tough guy, though, and he didn't hesitate to shove Elsa back into a desk _hard_.

The blonde girl faintly remembered scrambling back to her feet but not in time for Kristoff's fist that flew towards her and hit her square in the face. Whilst she'd stood recovering from the impact, the second punch whizzed right past her ear as she, purely out of luck, ducked to avoid it.

The third one, however, did hit its target and busted open Elsa's lip. By then, things began to spin for the girl, the metallic, rusty taste of blood strong in her mouth.

They stood opposite of each other, Elsa clutching at her mouth, chin dripping with red and Kristoff fuming, balling his fists.

He'd lunged forward, his shovel-sized hands curling around Elsa's wrists. The blonde recalled him hissing a few inaudible curses before he wrenched both of her arms into one hand and used his free hand to lash out. A stinging pain bloomed on her face and the last thing she saw was Kristoff's menacing eyes staring her down as she fell.

Then everything went dark.

She'd woken up with at least a dozen unknown faces staring down at her. Most of it was blurry and she still didn't know how she got home, but alas. Anna was safe, in the end. And that was all Elsa really cared and wanted to care about.

Elsa had later learned that Kristoff had forced himself upon Anna. She'd guessed as much in the few seconds that she had to analyse the scene when she stumbled upon it – the blonde still shuddered at the thought of what would've happened if she hadn't been there to interfere. It turned her insides into thousand knots.

The blond man had apparently been stalking her for a few weeks prior to the incident, claiming that she _had _to go out with him _or else._

Honestly, Elsa couldn't wrap her mind around why Arendelle University ever thought hiring that man was good idea. Don't they do background checks?

The sharp ring of the doorbell pulled Elsa out of her thoughts. Putting the ice pack down on the table, she staggered towards the front door. She swung it open wide, doing a double take when met with Anna, who shyly and earnestly looked at her. With a bouquet of roses in her hands. And looking _incredibly_ adorable.

For a few seconds, the blonde didn't quite know what to say, feeling her fingers starting to tremble around the doorknob.

"A-Anna," Elsa began finally, falling over her own words, "Hey, what are you doing here?" _Wow, that was a stupid question._

"What's it look like, silly?"

It was hard to talk through the drumming of her heart that beat loudly – almost deafening – in her ears, but, managing to mumble some sort of invitation, Elsa scooted aside to let Anna into her to her apartment.

It felt strange to have the redhead suddenly standing inside her living room and Elsa was suddenly very aware of the state of cleanliness of her house. Not that it was dirty, but the blonde had piles of papers and books scattered across the floor and table and her bed wasn't made either.

Elsa hurried inside to haphazardly throw the covers straight and kick some of the books under the bed, "Right, um. Have a seat. Make yourself at home."

She offered Anna a chair and then rushed to the kitchen to provide a vase and some water for the roses, desperately wishing she'd put on some proper clothes this morning.

Panic quickly began to claw at her heart as she put the roses in the water, absentmindedly re-arranging them for a bit. It wasn't so much strange as it was anxious to have her professor in her house – why was Anna here? Did she come to apologize? To explain everything?

With trembling hands and a heart beating rapidly inside her chest, Elsa picked up the vase and carried it to the living room.

"Thank you for the flowers, Anna," she said as she put them onto the table, "They're very beautiful."

Anna nodded, "It's the least I could do. Listen, Elsa, I just want to say I'm sorry for what happened. I'm so sorry. You really didn't deserve this whole ordeal."

Elsa looked down at her hands, at the abrasions and bruising on her knuckles. She saw Kristoff again before her mind's eye, his eyes wild and inhumanly menacing and she tried her hardest not to shiver and wince. She took a deep breath, balling her hand into a fist, "Ah, well. I'm still alive. Nothing time won't fix."

"I don't get how you're taking this so lightly."

"It happened anyway so there's nothing I can do about it. Why should I let it bother me?"

Anna narrowed her eyes at Elsa as she shifted in her chair, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips resulting in a half-hearted smile, "You're kinda right."

"I know," Elsa laughed, "But thank you, I'm okay. I look worse than I feel. Since when did you worry so much about silly old me anyway, huh?"

Miss Andersen's eyebrows dipped down over her eyes, "Hey, I've always cared about you."

Suddenly, nerves rushed through Elsa's body, numbing the very edge of her fingertips as she realised that if Anna wasn't going to talk about them, she would. "I know, I know, I'm just messing with you. Hey, um," the blonde started, a hand running through her wild hair, "Can I ask you something now that you're here?"

The redhead nodded, clasping her hands inside her lap.

Elsa took a deep breath and exhaled loudly through her nose, nerves pressing on her chest, "You told me that you and me wouldn't work. So why did you let me get so far yesterday? Why did you let me almost kiss you, though you were so opposed to the whole thing?"

Elsa could see that the question hit the unprepared older girl hard – her teeth were embedded in her lower lip as Anna visibly had difficulty finding an answer.

"Look, the thing is… I did tell you that this – this thing between us wouldn't work, yes. But that is not because I don't like you. Please don't think that I don't like you. The problem is exactly that I like you very much, and yesterday was a just slip-up on my part and I shouldn't have let it go that far."

"But you did."

"Yeah. Elsa, I truly wish I hadn't," the redhead said, looking up apologetically, "If I hadn't been so stupid none of this would've happened."

Elsa's eyebrows knitted together as it took a few seconds for her to understand. She watched Anna's teal eyes focus on her bruised eye and the cut on her lip – the blonde internally scoffed that miss Andersen hadn't even seen the bruises that resided underneath her clothes. She sighed, dismissing the thought, "That's not the point, Anna."

"I don't care that I got beaten up by that asshole. That was not your fault and I didn't punch him because it was you – I would've done that for anyone."

Anna's eyes gave a twinkle, roaring dark and bright. Elsa continued, "I just want an answer, okay? If I like you and you like me, what's the damn problem?"

The redhead's eyes flickered once, twice before she focussed them downwards, eyebrows knitting over them, "The problem is that I – I don't really believe in love."

Elsa sighed, rolling her eyes, "Right."

"No it's not –" Anna quickly sputters, smiling melancholically, "It's not like that."

Fidgeting, miss Andersen looked anywhere in the room but in Elsa's eyes, muttering something incomprehensible. She then took a deep breath.

"My parents… they, um – they fought a lot. It was a very dysfunctional relationship in which they claimed to be crazy for each other. They did love each other, I think. Or at least, I believed so," the redhead said. Her voice was fragile and suddenly the older girl looked ten years younger, too tiny for the room she was in, for the chair she sat on.

She swallowed hard once, "But when I saw my father beat my mom with his belt and when I saw the bruises that littered her body I couldn't believe that anymore."

Elsa's heart dropped - simply ceased to beat for a minute. Anna stopped talking for a second, visibly collecting herself and Elsa's gut gave a painful tug.

"So, I kind of shut myself out… from people. Just for a while. I excelled in school because all I did was read, and stay at school or the library as long as possible to avoid – you know. It got better, after some years. But I couldn't let myself be in love. Ever. I was too afraid I'd end up like my mom. Or my dad."

Quiet dropped over the duo, both of the girl at loss for what else to say. Anna fumbled with her bracelets and the soft jingling sound was all that filled the room for a while. Elsa was sure she looked like an idiot. Her cheeks burned red from sheer embarrassment and guilt and she was scared the redhead could hear the thumping in her veins.

Talking was never really Elsa's greatest strength, and especially not now. She wanted to hold Anna's hands, kiss her cheeks, tell her it was going to be alright and that she'd never do the things her father did but she couldn't. Her throat felt like sandpaper and she couldn't bring herself to do anything.

"Her bruises looked a lot like yours," miss Andersen added softly, completely and effectively shattering Elsa's heart for real this time.

"Jesus Christ, Anna," the blonde eventually croaked, involuntarily reaching out to lightly touch Anna's hand, "I had no idea. I'm so sorry."

She shrugged, "It's okay. Why would you need to have any idea; I'm your professor. I cannot share this kind of information with any student."

A humourless chuckle slips past Elsa's lips, "Yet here you are, huh."

"Here I am," she echoed, looking around the room with distant eyes as if to find the answer to everything in Elsa's furniture. Anna shook her head almost imperceptibly, a wry smile on her face as she let her hands fall in her lap helplessly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be a bother, I just came to check on you. I'll see myself out."

"You're not a bother."

Anna got up, still refusing to look at Elsa. The chair scraped against the floor as she put it back, "If you say so."

"Anna, for God's sake," the blonde muttered, bolting up from her own seat and taking a swift step to close the distance between her and miss Andersen. Almost involuntarily, her hands moved up to cup her teacher's face, caressing the skin with her thumbs as she coaxed Anna's head up so she could look at her.

"Yes I say so. And for all it's worth… I'm sure you can love," Elsa whispered, pretending not to melt as the redhead's fiery blue eyes silently burned into her own.

In seconds, Anna's lips brushed against Elsa's. It was a gentle, feathery and scared kiss but enough to rob the blonde of her breath. Her ribcage must've been made out of steel because Elsa could feel her heart beating ten times faster than ever before and she was scared it'd escape somehow.

Anna kissed her a second time with a little more force. Jolts flashed through Elsa's veins, through her nerve ends and her fingertips were tingling as she skimmed them along the warm, soft skin just below Anna's jaw. The blonde didn't even mind that her lip hurt like hell as long as miss Andersen was at the cause of it.

Elsa's knees almost gave way when a pair of hands came to rest on the base of her hips and pulled her close.

She was pretty sure she'd gasped because of it because Anna's tongue was running along her lower lip before she could do anything about it.

It ended as soon as it had begun and Anna looked at Elsa through half-lidded eyes, a slow, enticing fire burning deep inside them, but then they changed – grew wide, dilated pupils shrinking back to smaller black dots and the redhead staggered back a few steps. Her hand went up to her mouth, absentmindedly touching it.

The air in the room seemed to have dropped a few degrees as Elsa stood there trembling slightly, heart still trashing inside her ribcage.

"A-Anna, are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," miss Andersen mumbled, haphazardly grabbing her belongings, "I shouldn't have."

Elsa wanted to say that it was alright, really; that she didn't mind, that it didn't matter because for just a few moments it had felt like they were the only two people worthy of being alone on the planet but Elsa's words failed her as Anna stormed out the apartment. With the sounds of the lock slipping in place Elsa threw the vase across the room.

Her seething rage soon dissolved into guilt and hurt and she stood there amidst shards of glass and rose petals as red as the blood that dripped from her lip again.

* * *

_Guys, I'm so incredibly sorry for the late update. I'm okay, life has just been very hectic. University is killing me. Bear with me. I don't know how fast I can update the next chapter seeing this one too me months to do, but I will try my best. I'll have to wrap this baby up some day or another._

BUT; HARK, A KISS!


End file.
